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William J. Bush v. Department of Agriculture, Risk Management Agency, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, No. 17-3295 · judgment June 26, 2018


Certiorari denied · February 19, 2019
Pre-decision estimate: 0% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

Whether the Eighth Circuit's standard for agency records pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. §552 et seq., that an agency must maintain agency records conflicts with the District of Columbia (D.C.) Circuit's constructive control standard. Whether the Eighth Circuit's standard of limited de novo review for responsive records withheld pursuant to FOIA exemption 3 conflicts with the Ninth Circuit's standard of de novo review. Whether the Eighth Circuit's standard for adequacy of the search conflicts with the D.C. Circuit's standard. Whether the Eighth Circuit erred in affirming an interpretive rule requiring 15 records aggregated to the county level is reasonable and entitled to deference. Whether the Eighth Circuit erred in affirming the FOIA request is asking for the creation of new records. Whether the Eighth Circuit erred in affirming the authority of Section 1619 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 has not expired. Whether the Eighth Circuit erred in affirming the District Court's Order providing Risk Management Agency's (RMA's) Answer to the Complaint for United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Counsel of record

For petitioner
William J. Bush

For respondent
Noel John Francisco
Jones Day

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Feb 19 2019
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Jan 30 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/15/2019.
  3. Jan 22 2019
    Waiver of right of respondent Department of Agriculture, Risk Management Agency, et al. to respond filed.
  4. Nov 27 2018
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 22, 2019)