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Mark Elster, et al. v. City of Seattle, Washington

Paid petition · Supreme Court of Washington, No. 96660-5 · judgment July 11, 2019

Certiorari denied · March 30, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 3% cert probability

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

Questions presented

Seattle’s “democracy voucher” program establishes a dedicated property levy used solely to fund individual contributions from Seattle residents to the political campaigns of participating candidates. The questions presented are:

  1. Whether a levy that forces property owners to fund other individuals’ campaign donations implicates the First Amendment’s compelled-subsidy doctrine.

  2. Whether a compelled subsidy of speech should be examined under rational basis review, as the decision below concluded, or whether a higher standard of review is appropriate.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Ethan Winfred Blevins
Pacific Legal Foundation

For respondent
Roger D. Wynne
Seattle City Attorney's Office

Case

Subject area
First Amendment (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)

Conference history
Distributed for 3 conferences

Amicus briefs
3 cert-stage

Linked docket
19A345

Order
Order list, March 30, 2020 · Certiorari denied

Proceedings

  1. Mar 30 2020
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Mar 23 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/27/2020.
  3. Mar 18 2020
    Rescheduled.
  4. Feb 26 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/20/2020.
  5. Feb 21 2020
    Reply of petitioners Mark Elster, et al. filed.
  6. Feb 10 2020
    Brief of respondent City of Seattle, Washington in opposition filed.
  7. Jan 09 2020
    Brief amici curiae of American Association of Christian Schools, et al filed.
  8. Jan 09 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence filed.
  9. Dec 18 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including February 10, 2020.
  10. Dec 16 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 9, 2020 to February 10, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
  11. Dec 12 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of Goldwater Institute filed.
  12. Dec 10 2019
    Response Requested. (Due January 9, 2020)
  13. Dec 04 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/10/2020.
  14. Nov 26 2019
    Waiver of right of respondent City of Seattle, Washington to respond filed.
  15. Nov 20 2019
    Waiver of City of Seattle, Washington of right to respond not accepted for filing. (November 26, 2019)
  16. Nov 20 2019
    Blanket Consent filed by Respondent, City of Seattle, Washington.
  17. Nov 18 2019
    Blanket Consent filed by Petitioners, Mark Elster, et al.
  18. Nov 07 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 12, 2019)
  19. Sep 26 2019
    Application (19A345) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until November 8, 2019.
  20. Sep 24 2019
    Application (19A345) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from October 9, 2019 to November 8, 2019, submitted to Justice Kagan.
    Main DocumentProof of Service