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Penny Nichols Corn, et al. v. Mississippi Department of Public Safety, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, No. 19-60247 · judgment March 26, 2020

Certiorari denied · November 2, 2020

Pre-decision estimate: 3% cert probability

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

Question presented

Whether, after inconsistencies generated by Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410 (2006) and Lane v. Franks, 573 U.S. 228 (2014), citizen public employees who were terminated from their employment should have First Amendment protection to make truthful reports, both to their superiors and to state and federal law enforcement, about fraudulent tickets issued by State troopers, when their failure to report would amount to misprision of a felony.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Shirley Payne
Horn & Payne, PLLC

For respondent
Krissy Casey Nobile
MS Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Proceedings

Nov 02 2020
Petition DENIED. Justice Barrett took no part in the consideration or decision of this petition.
Oct 26 2020
Brief amici curiae of Stephen M. Sheppard and Michael H. Hoeflich filed. (Distributed)
Oct 07 2020
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/30/2020.
Oct 07 2020
Blanket Consent filed by Respondent, Mississippi Department of Public Safety, et al.
Oct 07 2020
Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, Penny Nichols Corn, et al.
Oct 02 2020
Waiver of right of respondents Mississippi Department of Public Safety, et al. to respond filed.
Sep 17 2020
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due October 26, 2020)