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Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church, et al. v. J. B. Pritzker, Governor of Illinois

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, No. 20-1811 · judgment June 16, 2020

Certiorari denied · March 29, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 5% cert probability

Before the decision, roughly the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel with five or more prior petitions here, a circuit split argued in the petition, and a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition), and down for a state or local-government respondent.

Question presented

The questions presented are:

  1. Whether the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment prohibits the government from discriminating against religious gatherings by restricting the size of religious gatherings while exempting or giving other preferential treatment to comparable nonreligious gatherings occurring inside the same houses of worship or to other comparable nonreligious gatherings occurring externally.

  2. Whether this Court’s decision in Employment Division v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990), is irreconcilable with the proper understanding of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and should be overturned.

  3. Whether this Court’s decision in Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905), issued decades before the First Amendment was incorporated against the States and 60 years before strict scrutiny would become the governing standard in First Amendment cases, dictates a separate standard for determining First Amendment liberties in times of declared crisis.

  4. Whether the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment and this Court’s holding in Everson v. Bd. of Educ. of Ewing Twp., 330 U.S. 1, 15 (1947) that “[n]either a state nor the Federal Government . . . can force or influence a person to go to or remain away from church against his will” is

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Mathew D. Staver

For respondent
Jane Elinor Notz
Office of the Attorney General, State of Illinois

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 3 conferences

Amicus briefs
5 cert-stage

Linked docket
20A147

Proceedings

  1. Mar 29 2021
    Petition DENIED. Justice Barrett took no part in the consideration or decision of this petition.
  2. Mar 22 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/26/2021.
  3. Mar 17 2021
    Rescheduled.
  4. Mar 11 2021
    Reply of petitioner Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church filed. (Distributed)
  5. Mar 08 2021
    Application (20A147) denied by The Chief Justice.
  6. Mar 08 2021
    Supplemental brief of respondent Jay Robert Pritzker filed.
  7. Mar 03 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/19/2021.
  8. Mar 01 2021
    Application (20A147) to file reply brief in excess of word limits, submitted to The Chief Justice.
    Main DocumentProof of Service
  9. Feb 26 2021
    Leave to Exceed Word Limit in Reply in Support of Petition for Writ of Certiorari of Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church not accepted for filing. (March 08, 2021)
  10. Feb 26 2021
    Reply of Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church not accepted for filing. (March 09, 2021)
  11. Feb 16 2021
    Brief of respondent Jay Robert Pritzker in opposition filed.
  12. Jan 15 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted in part; the time is extended to and including February 16, 2021.
  13. Jan 14 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 29, 2021 to March 1, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
  14. Jan 14 2021
    Response to motion for an extension of time from petitioner filed.
  15. Dec 16 2020
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including January 29, 2021.
  16. Dec 15 2020
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from December 30, 2020 to January 29, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
  17. Nov 30 2020
    Response Requested. (Due December 30, 2020)
  18. Nov 30 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of American Constitutional Rights Union filed.
  19. Nov 30 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence filed.
  20. Nov 30 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of American Center for Law and Justice filed.
  21. Nov 30 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission et al filed.
  22. Nov 24 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/11/2020.
  23. Nov 24 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Liberty Justice Center filed. (Distributed)
  24. Nov 20 2020
    Waiver of right of respondent Jay Robert Pritzker to respond filed.
  25. Oct 22 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due November 30, 2020)