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Gerardo Serrano v. United States Customs and Border Protection, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, No. 18-50977 · judgment September 16, 2020

Certiorari denied · April 19, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 12% cert probability (95% interval 9%–17%)

Before the decision, about 2.9× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a Fifth Circuit decision below, a petition filed soon after the judgment below, and a circuit split argued in the petition.

Question presented

When the government seizes a vehicle for civil forfeiture, does due process require a prompt post-seizure hearing to test the legality of the seizure and continued detention of the vehicle pending the final forfeiture trial?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Robert Everett Johnson
Institute for Justice

For respondent
Brian H. Fletcher
Acting Solicitor General

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Proceedings

  1. Apr 19 2021
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Mar 31 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/16/2021.
  3. Mar 30 2021
    Reply of petitioner Gerardo Serrano filed. (Distributed)
  4. Mar 16 2021
    Brief of respondents U.S. Customs and Border Protection, et al. in opposition filed.
  5. Mar 02 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including March 16, 2021.
  6. Mar 01 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from March 5, 2021 to March 16, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
  7. Feb 02 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including March 5, 2021.
  8. Feb 01 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from February 3, 2021 to March 5, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
  9. Jan 04 2021
    Brief amici curiae of David B. Smith, LEAP, and the R Street Institute filed.
  10. Dec 29 2020
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including February 3, 2021
  11. Dec 28 2020
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 4, 2021 to February 3, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
  12. Dec 08 2020
    Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, Gerardo Serrano
  13. Dec 01 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 4, 2021)