Supreme Court Report

Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →

DeRay Mckesson v. John Doe

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, No. 17-30864 · judgment December 16, 2019

GVR'd · November 2, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 3% cert probability

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

Question presented

Do the First Amendment and this Court’s decision in NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co., 458 U.S. 886 (1982), foreclose a state law negligence action making a leader of a protest demonstration personally liable in damages for injuries inflicted by an unidentified person’s violent act there, when it is undisputed that the leader neither intended, authorized, directed, nor ratified the perpetrator’s act, nor engaged in or incited violence of any kind?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
David Thomas Goldberg
Donahue & Goldberg, LLP

For respondent
Donna Unkel Grodner
Grodner & Associates

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 5 conferences

Amicus briefs
6 cert-stage

Proceedings

  1. Dec 04 2020
    JUDGMENT ISSUED.
  2. Nov 02 2020
    Petition GRANTED. Judgment VACATED and case REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. Justice Barrett took no part in the consideration or decision of this case. Justice Thomas dissents. Opinion per curiam. (Detached Opinion)
  3. Oct 26 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/30/2020.
  4. Oct 13 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/16/2020.
  5. Oct 05 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/9/2020.
  6. Jun 19 2020
    Reply of petitioner DeRay Mckesson filed. (Distributed)
  7. Jun 17 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2020.
  8. May 29 2020
    Brief of respondent John Doe in opposition filed.
  9. May 11 2020
    Response Requested. (Due June 10, 2020)
  10. Apr 28 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/15/2020.
  11. Apr 13 2020
    Waiver of right of respondent John Doe to respond filed.
  12. Apr 09 2020
    Brief of respondent Black Lives Matter Global Network, Inc. in support filed.
  13. Apr 09 2020
    Amicus brief of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People not accepted for filing. (April 15, 2020)
  14. Apr 09 2020
    Amicus brief of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People not accepted for filing. (April 15, 2020)
  15. Apr 09 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People filed.
  16. Apr 09 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Floyd Abrams, et al. filed.
  17. Apr 09 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Institute for Free Speech filed.
  18. Apr 09 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Howard University Human and Civil Rights Clinic filed.
  19. Apr 09 2020
    Brief amici curiae of First Amendment Scholars filed.
  20. Apr 09 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of The Rutherford Institute filed.
  21. Mar 05 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 9, 2020)