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James Tolle v. Ralph Northam, Governor of Virginia, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, No. 20-1419 · judgment April 28, 2020

Certiorari denied · October 5, 2020
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

  1. Defendant Northam's Executive Order 55 (2020) institutes quarantine restrictions on all Virginians without invoking Va. Code § 32.1-48.08 and without explicitly providing any due process to citizens challenging their quarantine. Subsequently, the District Court's Order denies Petitioner any timely procedural due process during a quarantine. The questions related to these facts are as follows: Can the Governor legally deprive citizens of liberty and property rights and circumvent the statutory protections for quarantined individuals by establishing a quarantine under emergency powers without invoking the quarantine statutes called for under those emergency powers? Can the State deprive citizens of liberty and property for quarantine reasons without the due process required by O'Connor v. Donaldson, and universally treat all citizens as infected subject to quarantine without offering individual assessments as required by Demore v. Kim? Does the District Court's denial of Petitioner's request for a hearing during the period of the quarantine and the Appellate Court's denial of Petitioner's request for an emergency injunction or stay without an expedited hearing violate the Fifth or Fourteenth Amendments by extinguishing citizens' rights to due process when there is no other avenue for due process provided by the State to redress ongoing injury to Petitioner's rights? Does the quarantine imposed by Defendant Northam's Executive Orders which applies universally to all citizens violate the requirement for the restriction of liberty to be the least restrictive means possible as called for under Shelton v. Tucker?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
James Tolle

For respondent
Toby Jay Heytens
Office of the Attorney General

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Proceedings

  1. Oct 05 2020
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Aug 08 2020
    Reply of petitioner James Tolle filed. (Distributed)
  3. Jul 29 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2020.
  4. Jul 27 2020
    Brief of respondents Northam, Gov. of VA, et al. in opposition filed. Distributed
  5. Jul 16 2020
    Supplemental brief of petitioner James Tolle filed.
  6. Jul 06 2020
    Letter waiving the 14-day waiting period under Rule 15.5 filed.
  7. Jun 24 2020
    Motion to expedite consideration of the petition for a writ of certiorari filed by petitioner James Tolle.
  8. Jun 04 2020
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including July 27, 2020.
  9. Jun 03 2020
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from June 26, 2020 to July 27, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
  10. May 27 2020
    Response Requested. (Due June 26, 2020)
  11. May 19 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/4/2020.
  12. May 14 2020
    Waiver of right of respondents Northam, Gov. of VA, et al. to respond filed.
  13. May 01 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due June 11, 2020)