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Merrick B. Garland, Attorney General v. Cesar Alcaraz-Enriquez

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 15-71553 · judgment March 9, 2018

Decided · June 1, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 22% cert probability (95% interval 15%–30%)

Before the decision, about 5.2× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a federal-government petitioner, a Ninth Circuit decision below, and a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition).

Question presented

Consolidated with 19-1155. Whether a court of appeals may conclusively presume an applicant's testimony is credible and true whenever an immigration judge or the Board of Immigration Appeals adjudicates a withholding of removal application without making an explicit adverse credibility determination.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Brian H. Fletcher
Acting Solicitor General

For respondent
Neal Kumar Katyal
Milbank LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Argument & decision

Argued February 23, 2021 — Colleen R. Sinzdak · Neal K. Katyal · David J. Zimmer. Audio and transcript

Decided June 1, 2021. Opinion by Gorsuch.

Proceedings

  1. Jul 06 2021
    JUDGMENT ISSUED.
  2. Jun 01 2021
    Judgment VACATED and case REMANDED. Gorsuch, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court. VIDED.
  3. Feb 23 2021
    Argued. For petitioner: Colleen R. Sinzdak, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. For respondent in 19-1156: Neal K. Katyal, Washington, D. C. For respondent in 19-1155: David J. Zimmer, Boston, Mass. VIDED.
  4. Jan 28 2021
    Record from the U.S.C.A. 9th Circuit electronic and located on Pacer. Sealed documents in this record was filed electronically.
  5. Jan 25 2021
    Record requested from the U.S.C.A. 9th Circuit.
  6. Jan 14 2021
    CIRCULATED
  7. Dec 31 2020
    SET FOR ARGUMENT on Tuesday, February 23, 2021. VIDED.
  8. Oct 02 2020
    Petition GRANTED. The petition for a writ of certiorari in No. 19-1155 is granted. The cases are consolidated, and a total of one hour is allotted for oral argument. VIDED.
  9. Oct 02 2020
    As Rule 34.6 provides, “If the Court schedules briefing and oral argument in a case that was governed by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2(c) or Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 49.1(c), the parties shall submit electronic versions of all prior and subsequent filings with this Court in the case, subject to [applicable] redaction rules.” Subsequent party and amicus filings in the case should now be submitted through the Court’s electronic filing system, with any necessary redactions.
  10. Oct 02 2020
    Because the Court has consolidated these cases for briefing and oral argument, future filings and activity in the cases will now be reflected on the docket of No. 19-1155. Subsequent filings in these cases must therefore be submitted through the electronic filing system in No. 19-1155. Each document submitted in connection with one or more of these cases must include on its cover the case number and caption for each case in which the filing is intended to be submitted. Where a filing is submitted in fewer than all of the cases, the docket entry will reflect the case number(s) in which the filing is submitted; a document filed in all of the consolidated cases will be noted as “VIDED.”
  11. Jul 17 2020
    Reply of petitioner William P. Barr, Attorney General filed. (Distributed)
  12. Jul 08 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2020.
  13. Jun 19 2020
    Brief of respondent Cesar Alcaraz-Enriquez in opposition filed.
  14. Apr 20 2020
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including June 19, 2020.
  15. Apr 17 2020
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from April 20, 2020 to June 19, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
  16. Mar 20 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 20, 2020)
  17. Mar 20 2020
    Pursuant to Rule 34.6 and Paragraph 9 of the Guidelines for the Submission of Documents to the Supreme Court's Electronic Filing System, filings in this case should be submitted in paper form only, and should not be submitted through the Court's electronic filing system.
  18. Feb 11 2020
    Application (19A891) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until March 20, 2020.
  19. Feb 10 2020
    Application (19A891) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from February 20, 2020 to March 20, 2020, submitted to Justice Kagan.