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Valerie Haney v. Church of Scientology International, et al.

Paid petition · Court of Appeal of California, Second Appellate District, No. B307452 · judgment October 22, 2020


Certiorari denied · October 4, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

Whether, under the First Amendment, a court may subject a person who has rejected the faith to participate in a religious “arbitration” where arbiters must be members of that religion in good standing and must apply religious principles to resolve a dispute involving violations of civil law.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Marci A. Hamilton
University of Pennsylvania

For respondent
William H. Forman
Winston & Strawn LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Proceedings

  1. Oct 04 2021
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Jul 20 2021
    Reply of petitioner Valerie Haney filed. (Distributed)
  3. Jul 14 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/27/2021.
  4. Jun 25 2021
    Brief of respondent Church of Scientology International in opposition filed.
  5. Jun 09 2021
    Brief amici curiae of Constitutional Law, Torts & Religion Professors and Scholars filed.
  6. May 10 2021
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due June 25, 2021)