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Donald Zimmerman v. City of Austin, Texas

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, No. 16-51366 · judgment February 1, 2018

Certiorari denied · December 10, 2018
Pre-decision estimate: 2% cert probability

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

Question presented

Whether Austin’s $350 base limit on campaign contributions violates the First Amendment; and Whether Zimmerman established standing to challenge Austin’s aggregate limit on the total amount of campaign contributions a candidate may accept “from sources other than natural persons eligible to vote in a postal zip code completely or partially within the Austin city limits.”

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Jerad Wayne Najvar
Chalmers, Adams, Backer & Kaufmann LLC

For respondent
Renea Hicks
Law Office of Max Renea Hicks

Case

Subject area
First Amendment (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)

Conference history
Distributed for 7 conferences

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Order
Order list, December 10, 2018 · Certiorari denied

Proceedings

  1. Dec 10 2018
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Dec 03 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/7/2018.
  3. Nov 29 2018
    Rescheduled.
  4. Nov 26 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/30/2018.
  5. Nov 15 2018
    Rescheduled.
  6. Nov 13 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/16/2018.
  7. Nov 08 2018
    Rescheduled.
  8. Nov 05 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/9/2018.
  9. Nov 01 2018
    Rescheduled.
  10. Oct 29 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/2/2018.
  11. Oct 25 2018
    Rescheduled.
  12. Oct 03 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/26/2018.
  13. Sep 27 2018
    Reply of petitioner Donald Zimmerman filed.
  14. Sep 13 2018
    Brief of City of Austin, Texas in opposition not accepted for filing. (September 13, 2018) (Corrected filing to be submitted)
  15. Sep 13 2018
    Brief of respondent City of Austin, Texas in opposition filed.
  16. Aug 16 2018
    Brief amici curiae of Public Policy Legal Institute, et al. filed.
  17. Aug 14 2018
    Response Requested. (Due September 13, 2018)
  18. Aug 08 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/24/2018.
  19. Aug 03 2018
    Waiver of right of respondent City of Austin, Texas to respond filed.
  20. Jul 17 2018
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due August 20, 2018)