Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Project Veritas Action Fund v. Rachael S. Rollins, in Her Official Capacity as District Attorney for Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, No. 19-1586, 19-1640 · judgment December 15, 2020
Before the decision, roughly the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a First Circuit decision below and a circuit split argued in the petition.
Questions presented
Massachusetts law prohibits all secret recording of oral communications by anyone who is not a law enforcement officer. This does great damage to an irreplaceable and important form of newsgathering. Project Veritas Action Fund regularly uses secret audio recording to capture newsworthy information and report it to the public. Realizing Massachusetts law banned it from operating in the state, Project Veritas Action Fund challenged the reach of Massachusetts General Laws chapter 272, section 99. After acknowledging Project Veritas Action Fund would make the secret recordings detailed in the case but for the law, the panel below ruled the law was not facially overbroad and determined the as-applied challenges were unripe and presented no live case or controversy. The questions presented are:
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Whether the First Circuit erred in holding— in direct conflict with the Illinois Supreme Court and in conflict with four other circuit courts of appeals—that a recording law which makes it a felony for individuals to secretly record under any circumstances is not facially overbroad under the First Amendment.
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Whether the First Circuit erred in holding— in direct conflict with five other circuit courts of appeals—that a party challenging a speechsuppressive law has the burden to precisely articulate every type of contemplated speech activity to satisfy ripeness for as-applied challenges.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Benjamin Barr
Barr & Klein PLLC
For respondent
Eric Andrew Haskell
Office of the Attorney General
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences
Amicus briefs
4 cert-stage
Proceedings
- Nov 22 2021Petition DENIED.
- Nov 02 2021DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/19/2021.
- Oct 29 2021Reply of petitioner Project Veritas Action Fund filed. (Distributed)
- Oct 15 2021Brief of respondent Rachael Rollins in opposition filed.
- Sep 16 2021Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including October 15, 2021.
- Sep 15 2021Motion to extend the time to file a response from October 4, 2021 to October 15, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jul 08 2021Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including October 4, 2021.
- Jul 07 2021Motion to extend the time to file a response from August 5, 2021 to October 4, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jul 06 2021Response Requested. (Due August 5, 2021)
- Jun 16 2021DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/27/2021.
- Jun 16 2021Brief amicus curiae of CatholicVote.org Education Fund filed. (Distributed)
- Jun 16 2021Brief amici curiae of Accuracy in Media, et al. filed. (Distributed)
- Jun 16 2021Brief amicus curiae of Protect the 1st, Inc. filed. (Distributed)
- Jun 15 2021Amicus brief of Thomas More Society not accepted for filing. (Dupilicate submission)(June 17, 2021)
- Jun 15 2021Brief amicus curiae of Thomas More Society filed. (Distributed)
- Jun 11 2021Waiver of right of respondent Rachael Rollins to respond filed.
- May 17 2021Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, Project Veritas Action Fund
- May 12 2021Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due June 16, 2021)