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Arnold Fleck v. Joe Wetch, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, No. 16-1564 · judgment August 30, 2019

Certiorari denied · March 9, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 5% cert probability (95% interval 3%–9%)

Before the decision, modestly above the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for an Eighth Circuit decision below, a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition), and a petition filed soon after the judgment below.

Questions presented

The Petitioner is an attorney who is required by state law to join and to fund a state bar association as a condition of practicing law. He challenged both compulsory membership and the compulsory funding of the association’s political activities under the First Amendment. This Court vacated and remanded the previous judgment against him for consideration in light of Janus v. AFSCME, 138 S. Ct. 2448 (2018), whereupon the Court of Appeals reaffirmed its prior ruling in all respects, holding that “Janus does not alter our prior decision.” Fleck v. Wetch, 937 F.3d 1112, 1118 (8th Cir. 2019) (App. 13a). The questions presented are:

  1. Are laws mandating membership in a state bar association subject to the same “exacting” First Amendment scrutiny that the Court prescribed for mandatory public-sector union fees in Janus?

  2. Does it violate the First Amendment to presume that an attorney is willing to pay for a bar association’s “non-chargeable” political and ideological speech, unless and until that attorney takes steps to opt out?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Timothy Mason Sandefur
Goldwater Institute

For respondent
Sarah Elaine Harrington
Covington & Burling LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Amicus briefs
4 cert-stage

Proceedings

  1. May 04 2020
    Rehearing DENIED.
  2. Apr 15 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/1/2020.
  3. Apr 03 2020
    Petition for Rehearing filed.
  4. Mar 09 2020
    Petition DENIED.
  5. Feb 19 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/6/2020.
  6. Feb 17 2020
    Reply of petitioner Arnold Fleck filed. (Distributed)
  7. Feb 03 2020
    Brief of respondents Joe Wetch, Aubrey Fiebelkorn-Zuger, and Tony Weiler in opposition filed.
  8. Jan 30 2020
    Brief of respondent Petra Mandigo Hulm in opposition filed.
  9. Dec 26 2019
    Brief amici curiae of National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Inc., et al. filed.
  10. Dec 26 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of 1889 Institute filed.
  11. Dec 19 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of Liberty Justice Center filed.
  12. Dec 19 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of Pacific Legal Foundation filed.
  13. Dec 12 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including February 3, 2020.
  14. Dec 09 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from December 26, 2019 to February 3, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
  15. Nov 26 2019
    Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, Arnold Fleck
  16. Nov 21 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 26, 2019)