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John C. Carney, Governor of Delaware v. James R. Adams

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, No. 18-1045 · judgment April 10, 2019

Decided · December 10, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 9% cert probability (95% interval 5%–15%)

Before the decision, about 2.1× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a Third Circuit decision below, a state or local-government petitioner, and a circuit split argued in the petition.

Questions presented

  1. Does the First Amendment invalidate a longstanding state constitutional provision that limits judges affiliated with any one political party to no more than a "bare majority" on the State's three highest courts, with the other seats reserved for judges affiliated with the "other major political party''?

  2. Did the Third Circuit err in holding that a provision of the Delaware Constitution requiring that no more than a "bare majority" of three of the state courts may be made up of judges affiliated with any one political party is not severable from a provision that judges who are not members of the majority party on those courts must be members of the other "major political party," when the former requirement existed for more than fifty years without the latter, and the former requirement, without the latter, continues to govern appointments to two other courts?

  3. Added by the Court: Whether Respondent has demonstrated Article III standing. Press release of march 16, 2020 In keeping with public health precautions recommended in Response to covid-19, the supreme Court is postponing the oral Arguments currently scheduled for the march session. 4/13/2020: argument to be rescheduled for the october term 2020

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Michael W. McConnell
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, PC

For respondent
David Lee Finger
Finger & Slanina. LLC

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 4 conferences

Amicus briefs
4 cert-stage · 16 merits
(12 supporting pet./neither, 4 respondent)

Argument & decision

Argued October 5, 2020 — Michael W. McConnell · David L. Finger. Audio and transcript

Decided December 10, 2020. Opinion by Breyer.

Proceedings

  1. Jan 11 2021
    JUDGMENT ISSUED.
  2. Dec 10 2020
    Judgment VACATED and case REMANDED. Breyer, 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 case. Sotomayor, J., filed a concurring opinion.
  3. Oct 05 2020
    Argued. For petitioner: Michael W. McConnell, Washington, D. C. For respondent: David L. Finger, Wilmington, Del.
  4. Jul 13 2020
    SET FOR ARGUMENT on Monday, October 5, 2020.
  5. Apr 13 2020
    Argument to be rescheduled for the October Term 2020.
  6. Mar 16 2020
    ORAL ARGUMENT POSTPONED.
  7. Mar 13 2020
    Reply of John C. Carney, Governor of Delaware not accepted for filing. (March 16, 2020 - Corrected brief submitted)
  8. Mar 13 2020
    Reply of petitioner John C. Carney, Governor of Delaware filed (3/16/2020). (Distributed)
  9. Feb 27 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Lawyers and Professors filed. (Distributed)
  10. Feb 27 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Libertarian National Committee filed. (Distributed). (Corrected brief to be submitted - March 16, 2020).
  11. Feb 26 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Cato Institute filed. (Distributed)
  12. Feb 26 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Public Citizen filed. (Distributed)
  13. Feb 24 2020
    Record from the USCA 3rd Circuit and USDC District of Delaware (Wilmington) electronically received.
  14. Feb 20 2020
    Brief of respondent James R. Adams filed. (Distributed)
  15. Feb 19 2020
    Record requested from the U.S.C.A. 3rd Circuit.
  16. Feb 19 2020
    CIRCULATED
  17. Jan 31 2020
    SET FOR ARGUMENT on Wednesday, March 25, 2020.
  18. Jan 28 2020
    Brief amici curiae of State and Local Government Associations filed.
  19. Jan 28 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Former Governors of the State of Delaware filed.
  20. Jan 28 2020
    Brief amici curiae of The Delaware State Bar Association filed.
  21. Jan 28 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Professors Brian D. Feinstein and Daniel J. Hemel filed.
  22. Jan 28 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of The Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America filed.
  23. Jan 28 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of The Conference of Chief Justices in support of neither party filed.
  24. Jan 28 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law filed.
  25. Jan 28 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Campaign Legal Center filed.
  26. Jan 28 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Anthony Daunt and Norman Shinkle filed.
  27. Jan 28 2020
    Amicus brief of Republican National Committee not accepted for filing. (February 07, 2020 - corrected brief to be submitted).
  28. Jan 28 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Republican National Committee filed (February 12, 2020 - corrected brief).
  29. Jan 27 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Professors filed.
  30. Jan 24 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Former Chief Justices of the Delaware Supreme Court filed.
  31. Jan 21 2020
    Joint appendix filed. (Statement of costs filed)
  32. Jan 21 2020
    Brief of petitioner John C. Carney, Governor of Delaware filed. (February 13, 2020 - Corrected brief to be filed.)
  33. Jan 21 2020
    Brief of petitioner John C. Carney, Governor of Delaware filed (2/13/2020).
  34. Jan 17 2020
    Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, John C. Carney, Governor of Delaware.
  35. Dec 06 2019
    Petition GRANTED. In addition to the questions presented by the petition, the parties are directed to brief and argue the following question: Whether respondent has demonstrated Article III standing.
  36. Dec 02 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/6/2019.
  37. Nov 18 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/22/2019.
  38. Nov 12 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/15/2019.
  39. Oct 23 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/8/2019.
  40. Oct 22 2019
    Reply of petitioner John C. Carney, Governor of Delaware filed.
  41. Oct 07 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of Joel Edan Friedlander filed.
  42. Oct 07 2019
    Brief amici curiae of Former Chief Justices of the Delaware Supreme Court filed.
  43. Oct 07 2019
    Brief amici curiae of Former Governors of the State of Delaware filed.
  44. Oct 07 2019
    Brief of respondent James R. Adams in opposition filed.
  45. Oct 02 2019
    Brief amici curiae of Professors filed.
  46. Sep 23 2019
    Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, Governor of Delaware.
  47. Sep 06 2019
    Supplement to list of directly related proceedings by petitioner filed.
  48. Sep 04 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due October 7, 2019)
  49. Jul 16 2019
    Application (19A57) granted by Justice Alito extending the time to file until September 4, 2019.
  50. Jul 11 2019
    Application (19A57) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from August 5, 2019 to October 4, 2019, submitted to Justice Alito.
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