Supreme Court Report

Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →

United States v. Richard D. Collins

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, No. 19-0052

Decided · December 10, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 21% cert probability (95% interval 7%–51%)

Before the decision, about 5.2× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a federal-government petitioner and the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces below.

Question presented

Consolidated with 19-108. Whether the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces erred in concluding-contrary to its own longstanding precedent-that the Uniform Code of Military Justice allows prosecution of a rape that occurred between 1986 and 2006 only if it was discovered and charged within five years.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Jeffrey B. Wall
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

For respondent
David Patrick Sheldon
Law Offices of David P. Sheldon PLLC

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Argument & decision

Argued October 13, 2020 — Jeffrey B. Wall · Stephen I. Vladeck. Audio and transcript

Decided December 10, 2020. Opinion by Alito.

Proceedings

  1. Jul 26 2021
    Record returned to the U.S.C.A. for the Armed Forces. (1-Envelope)
  2. Jan 11 2021
    JUDGMENT ISSUED.
  3. Dec 10 2020
    Judgment REVERSED and case REMANDED. Alito, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which all other Members joined, except Barrett, J., who took no part in the consideration or decision of the cases. Gorsuch, J., filed a concurring opinion. VIDED.
  4. Oct 13 2020
    Argued. For petitioner: Jeffrey B. Wall, Acting Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. For respondents: Stephen I. Vladeck, Austin, Tex. VIDED.
  5. Jul 13 2020
    SET FOR ARGUMENT on Tuesday, October 13, 2020. VIDED.
  6. Apr 13 2020
    Argument to be rescheduled for the October Term 2020. VIDED.
  7. Mar 16 2020
    ORAL ARGUMENT POSTPONED. VIDED.
  8. Feb 26 2020
    Record received from the U.S.C.A. for the Armed Forces. (1-Envelope)
  9. Feb 19 2020
    Record requested from the U.S.C.A. Armed Forces.
  10. Feb 19 2020
    CIRCULATED
  11. Jan 31 2020
    SET FOR ARGUMENT on Monday, March 23, 2020. VIDED
  12. Nov 15 2019
    Petition GRANTED. The petition for a writ of certiorari in No. 19-108 is granted. The cases are consolidated and a total of one hour is allotted for oral argument.
  13. Nov 15 2019
    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. 19-108. Subsequent filings in these cases must therefore be submitted through the electronic filing system in No. 19-108. 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.”
  14. Nov 12 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/15/2019.
  15. Oct 23 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/8/2019.
  16. Oct 23 2019
    Reply of petitioner USA filed. (Distributed)
  17. Oct 09 2019
    Brief of respondent Humphrey Daniels in opposition filed.
  18. Sep 09 2019
    Brief of respondent Richard D. Collins in opposition filed.
  19. Sep 09 2019
    Brief amici curiae of Harmony Allen and Tonja Schulz filed.
  20. Sep 05 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including October 9, 2019, for all respondents.
  21. Aug 30 2019
    Motion respondent Humphrey Daniels to extend the time to file a response from September 9, 2019 to October 9, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
  22. Aug 09 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 9, 2019)
  23. Jul 03 2019
    Application (18A1257) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until August 9, 2019.
  24. Jun 28 2019
    Application (18A1257) to extend further the time from July 10, 2019 to August 9, 2019, submitted to The Chief Justice.
    Written RequestProof of Service
  25. Jun 06 2019
    Application (18A1257) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until July 10, 2019.
  26. May 31 2019
    Application (18A1257) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from June 10, 2019 to July 10, 2019, submitted to The Chief Justice.
    Main DocumentProof of Service