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Sheldon Silver v. United States, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, No. 18-2380 · judgment January 21, 2020

Certiorari denied · January 25, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 6% cert probability (95% interval 4%–9%)

Before the decision, modestly above the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a Second Circuit decision below, a circuit split argued in the petition, and a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition).

Question presented

  1. Can a public official be convicted of bribery absent proof of an agreed exchange with the alleged bribe payor, based solely on his unexpressed, unilateral state of mind when receiving a benefit?

  2. Can a conviction for Hobbs Act extortion be based on a theory of simple bribery?

  3. If the Government elects not to argue harmless error, may a court of appeals raise harmless error sua sponte, without providing the defendant any opportunity to be heard on the issue?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Meir Feder
Jones Day

For respondent
Jeffrey B. Wall
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 6 conferences

Argument & decision

Decided January 25, 2021.

Proceedings

  1. Jan 25 2021
    Petition DENIED. Justice Gorsuch, with whom Justice Thomas joins, dissenting from denial of certiorari. (Detached Opinion)
  2. Jan 19 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/22/2021.
  3. Jan 11 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/15/2021.
  4. Jan 04 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/8/2021.
  5. Dec 07 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/11/2020.
  6. Nov 17 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/4/2020.
  7. Nov 16 2020
    Reply of petitioner Sheldon Silver filed. (Distributed)
  8. Oct 30 2020
    Brief of respondents United States, et al. in opposition filed.
  9. Oct 28 2020
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including October 30, 2020.
  10. Oct 26 2020
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from October 28, 2020 to October 30, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
  11. Sep 24 2020
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including October 28, 2020.
  12. Sep 23 2020
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from September 28, 2020 to October 28, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
  13. Aug 27 2020
    Response Requested. (Due September 28, 2020)
  14. Aug 26 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2020.
  15. Aug 10 2020
    Waiver of right of respondent United States, et al. to respond filed.
  16. Jul 20 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due August 24, 2020)