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Office of the United States Trustee v. John Q. Hammons Fall 2006, LLC, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, No. 20-3203 · judgment October 5, 2021


GVR'd · June 13, 2022
Pre-decision estimate: 15% cert probability (95% interval 9%–24%)

Before the decision, about 3.6× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a federal-government petitioner, counsel who has won certiorari before, and a Tenth Circuit decision below, and down for a business respondent.

Questions presented

  1. Whether Section 1004(a) of the Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2017, Pub. L. No. 115-72, Div. B, 131 Stat. 1232 (28 U.S.C. 1930(a)(6)(B) (2018)), which amended the schedule of quarterly fees payable to the United States Trustee in certain pending bankruptcy cases, contravened Congress’s constitutional authority to “establish * * * uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies,” U.S. Const. Art. I, § 8, Cl. 4, because it was initially applied only in the 88 federal judicial districts that have United States Trustees but not in the 6 districts that have Bankruptcy Administrators.

  2. Whether, if Section 1004(a) is found unconstitutional, the appropriate remedy is to require the United States Trustee to refund a portion of the quarterly fees paid by respondents in a United States Trustee district.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Elizabeth B. Prelogar
Solicitor General

For respondent
Nicholas Jay Zluticky
Stinson LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Linked docket
21A270

Proceedings

  1. Jul 15 2022
    JUDGMENT ISSUED
  2. Jun 13 2022
    Petition GRANTED. Judgment VACATED and case REMANDED for further consideration in light of Siegel v. Fitzgerald, 596 U. S. ___ (2022).
  3. Jun 06 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/9/2022.
  4. Mar 23 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/14/2022.
  5. Mar 22 2022
    Reply of petitioner Office of the United States Trustee filed.
  6. Mar 07 2022
    Brief of respondents John Q. Hammons Fall 2006, LLC, et al. in opposition filed.
  7. Feb 02 2022
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due March 7, 2022)
  8. Jan 03 2022
    Application (21A270) granted by Justice Gorsuch extending the time to file until February 2, 2022.
  9. Dec 22 2021
    Application (21A270) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from January 3, 2022 to February 2, 2022, submitted to Justice Gorsuch.