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Barry J. Smith, Sr. v. United States Congress, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, No. 20-2283, 20-2987, 20-2988


Certiorari denied · October 18, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 0% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Questions presented

  1. Does petitioner need the government’s consent to petition the government for redress of his grievance that the government has held him in Thirteenth Amendment slavery beyond the term of his punishment pronounced by the judge who duly sentenced him for his crime, and is petitioner’s status as a government slave defined by petitioner having only those federal Constitutional rights that the federal and State governments choose to grant him?

  2. Without granting petitioner, an emancipated Thirteenth Amendment slave, due process of law, is it Constitutional for the government to impose as a condition of his liberty that he not exercise his Second Amendment right to keep and bear firearms for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home; and is petitioner entitled to a receipt from the government that he has paid his debt to society by discharging his judicially pronounced Thirteenth Amendment sentence?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Barry J. Smith

For respondent
Brian H. Fletcher
Acting Solicitor General

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Oct 18 2021
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Sep 29 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/15/2021.
  3. Sep 13 2021
    Waiver of right of respondent United States Congress to respond filed.
  4. Aug 10 2021
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 13, 2021)