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Jill Dillard, et al. v. Kathy O'Kelley, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, No. 17-3284, 17-3287 · judgment June 15, 2020


Certiorari denied · January 11, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 5% cert probability (95% interval 3%–8%)

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

Questions presented

  1. Whether the Court’s opinion in National Aeronautics and Space Administrator, et al. v. Nelson, 562 U.S. 134 (2011), diverged from its previous holdings in Whalen v. Roe, 429 U.S. 589 (1977), and Nixon v. Administrator of General Services et al., 433 U.S. 425 (1977), with respect to a constitutional right to informational privacy, such that officials who released personal information identifying minor victims of sexual abuse and the details of that abuse are entitled to qualified immunity.

  2. Whether a constitutional right may be clearly established in the absence of controlling Supreme Court precedent for qualified immunity analysis. Compare, e.g., Carrillo v. Cnty. of Los Angeles, 798 F.3d 1210 (9th Cir. 2015) (law clearly established for qualified immunity purposes based on controlling circuit authority even though the Supreme Court had not yet weighed in on the issue) with Dillard v. O’Kelley, 961 F.3d 1048 (8th Cir. 2020) (en banc) (law not clearly established, despite controlling circuit authority, because the Supreme Court was silent on the issue).

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Stephen Gerard Larson
Larson LLP

For respondent
Thomas N. Kieklak
Harrington, Miller, Kieklak, Eichmann and Brown

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Jan 11 2021
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Dec 23 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/8/2021.
  3. Dec 16 2020
    Waiver of right of respondents Kathy O'Kelley, et al. to respond filed.
  4. Dec 16 2020
    Waiver of right of respondent Rick Hoyt to respond filed.
  5. Nov 10 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 16, 2020)