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March for Life Education and Defense Fund v. California, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 19-15150 · judgment October 22, 2019

GVR'd · July 9, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 5% cert probability

Before the decision, roughly the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel who has won certiorari before and a Ninth Circuit decision below.

Questions presented

This Court recently granted review in Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home v. Pennsylvania, No. 19-431, and Trump v. Pennsylvania, No. 19-454, to determine whether the federal government lawfully exempted religious and moral objectors from federal regulatory requirements to provide health plans that include abortifacient and contraceptive coverage. This case raises the identical issue for Petitioner March for Life, which holds a nonreligious, moral conviction that all humans have worth and all abortions are wrong. If the Court rules for the petitioners in Little Sisters and Trump, the decision will be outcome dispositive of the second question presented here, warranting a GVR. But there is also a threshold standing issue that the Court could address either in Little Sisters and Trump or here. The questions presented are:

  1. Whether states have Article III standing to challenge the religious and moral exemptions based on a hypothetical increase in their discretionary, voluntary healthcare spending.

  2. Whether the federal government lawfully exempted religious and moral objectors from the federal regulatory requirement to provide health plans that include abortifacient and contraceptive coverage.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
John J. Bursch
Alliance Defending Freedom

For respondent
Aimee Athena Feinberg
California Department of Justice

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Related
Vide, 19-1038, 19-1053

Linked docket
19A759

Proceedings

  1. Aug 10 2020
    JUDGMENT ISSUED.
  2. Jul 09 2020
    Petition GRANTED. Judgment VACATED and case REMANDED for further consideration in light of Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home v. Pennsylvania, 591 U. S. ___ (2020).
  3. Jul 08 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 7/8/2020.
  4. Apr 08 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/24/2020.
  5. Apr 07 2020
    Reply of petitioners March for Life Education and Defense Fund filed.
  6. Mar 20 2020
    Brief of respondents State of California, et al. in opposition filed. VIDED.
  7. Mar 20 2020
    Waiver of right of respondent Little Sisters of the Poor Jeanne Jugan Residence to respond filed.
  8. Mar 18 2020
    Waiver of right of respondent United States to respond filed.
  9. Feb 19 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due March 23, 2020)
  10. Jan 08 2020
    Application (19A759) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until February 19, 2020.
  11. Jan 06 2020
    Application (19A759) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from January 20, 2020 to February 19, 2020, submitted to Justice Kagan.
    Main Document