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Eduardo Lopez v. United States

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, No. 20-11011 · judgment November 19, 2020

Certiorari denied · October 4, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 5% cert probability

Before the decision, modestly above the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a circuit split argued in the petition, a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition), and an Eleventh Circuit decision below.

Questions presented

  1. Following Class v. United States, 138 S. Ct. 798 (2018), does a criminal defendant’s guilty plea result in the automatic waiver of his right to appeal a structural defect in the underlying proceedings, to wit, an order disqualifying his retained counsel on Sixth Amendment grounds?

  2. Where a law firm endeavors to jointly represent co-defendants, does Wheat v. United States, 486 U.S. 153 (1988), authorize a district court to override a criminal defendant’s waiver of conflict-free representation, for the specifically limited purposes of discovery and motions, and disqualify the law firm where no cooperation agreement has been offered to any defendant and no trial has been scheduled?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Jerome Dwayne Lee
Taylor Lee & Associates LLC

For respondent
Brian H. Fletcher
Acting Solicitor General

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Oct 04 2021
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Aug 11 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/27/2021.
  3. Jul 23 2021
    Brief of respondent United States of America in opposition filed.
    Main DocumentProof of Service
  4. Jun 22 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including July 23, 2021.
  5. Jun 21 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from June 25, 2021 to July 23, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
    Main Document
  6. May 17 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including June 25, 2021.
  7. May 14 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from May 26, 2021 to June 25, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
    Main Document
  8. Apr 23 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including May 26, 2021.
  9. Apr 22 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from April 26, 2021 to May 26, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
    Main Document
  10. Mar 22 2021
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 26, 2021)
    PetitionAppendixCertificate of Word CountProof of Service