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Jane Doe v. Iowa

Paid petition · Supreme Court of Iowa, No. 18-1366 · judgment May 10, 2019

Certiorari denied · November 25, 2019
Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

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

Question presented

In Iowa, as in nearly every state, a person who has been charged with an offense, but not convicted, is entitled to have the record of the charge expunged, because it can be very hard for a person with a criminal record to find employment. Iowa appears to be the only state, however, that denies this entitlement to people who are too poor to pay the court fees associated with the charge. The Question Presented is whether Iowa violates the Equal Protection Clause by denying expungement to people who have not been convicted of any offense, solely because they are too poor to pay court fees.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Stuart Banner
UCLA School of Law Supreme Court Clinic

For respondent
Kevin Cmelik
Iowa Department of Justice

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Amicus briefs
3 cert-stage

Proceedings

  1. Nov 25 2019
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Nov 06 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/22/2019.
  3. Nov 01 2019
    Reply of petitioner Jane Doe filed.
  4. Oct 23 2019
    Brief of respondent Iowa in opposition filed.
  5. Sep 23 2019
    Response Requested. (Due October 23, 2019)
  6. Sep 11 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/1/2019.
  7. Sep 09 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of Public Defender Association of Iowa filed.
  8. Sep 09 2019
    Brief amici curiae of Collateral Consequences Resource Center, et al. filed.
  9. Sep 05 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of Community Legal Services Inc. filed.
  10. Aug 29 2019
    Waiver of right of respondent Iowa to respond filed.
  11. Aug 06 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 9, 2019)