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Alexander Balbuena v. Brian Cates, Acting Warden

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 12-16414 · judgment November 17, 2020


Certiorari denied · June 14, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 8% cert probability (95% interval 6%–12%)

Before the decision, about 2× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a Ninth Circuit decision below, a circuit split argued in the petition, and a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition), and down for a state or local-government respondent.

Question presented

Whether a district court filing that seeks to amend a habeas petition pending on appeal constitutes a “second or successive” petition under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (“AEDPA”).

Counsel of record

For petitioner
David A. O'Neil
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP

For respondent
Joshua Patashnik
California Department of Justice

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Proceedings

  1. Jun 14 2021
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Jun 07 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/10/2021.
  3. May 18 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/3/2021.
  4. May 17 2021
    Reply of petitioner Alexander Balbuena filed. (Distributed)
  5. May 03 2021
    Brief of respondent Brian Cates in opposition filed.
  6. Apr 01 2021
    Brief amici curiae of Federal Public Defender, District of Nevada, District of Arizona, Central District of California, and Eastern District of California filed.
  7. Mar 17 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including May 3, 2021.
  8. Mar 16 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from April 1, 2021 to May 3, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
  9. Feb 26 2021
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 1, 2021)