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Caitlin McCann, et al. v. Sheila Garcia, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 19-55022 · judgment October 26, 2020


Certiorari denied · December 6, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 6% cert probability (95% interval 4%–8%)

Before the decision, modestly above 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).

Questions presented

  1. Whether a plaintiff satisfies the “clearly established law” prong of qualified immunity by identifying prior authority that articulates general legal principles, or whether a prior case must be so closely analogous on the facts that the unlawfulness of the conduct in question “follows immediately” from the prior case.

  2. Whether the doctrine of qualified immunity provides less protection to social workers’ child welfare decisions than it does to police officers’ law enforcement decisions.

  3. Whether courts, in determining whether a right is “clearly established,” may consider cases that postdate the alleged constitutional violation.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Christopher John Welsh
Office of County Counsel

For respondent
Donnie R. Cox
Law Offices of Donnie R. Cox

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Proceedings

  1. Dec 06 2021
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Nov 09 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/3/2021.
  3. Nov 05 2021
    Reply of petitioners Caitlin McCann, et al. filed. (Distributed)
  4. Oct 25 2021
    Brief of respondents Sheila Garcia, et al. in opposition filed.
  5. Aug 19 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including October 25, 2021.
  6. Aug 18 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from August 26, 2021 to October 25, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
  7. Jul 27 2021
    Response Requested. (Due August 26, 2021)
  8. Jun 30 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/27/2021.
  9. May 13 2021
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due June 16, 2021)