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Jeffrey T. Maehr v. Department of State

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, No. 20-1124 · judgment July 20, 2021


Certiorari denied · February 22, 2022
Pre-decision estimate: 4% cert probability

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

Question presented

Pursuant to a recently enacted federal statute, the State Department revoked Petitioner Jeffrey Maehr’s passport, and hence his constitutionally established right to travel internationally, not for reasons of national security or foreign policy, or because he is trying to sneak money out of the country, but simply to pressure him to pay a tax debt. The question presented is: may the federal government collect tax debts by revoking citizens’ constitutional rights until they pay up?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Bennett L. Cohen
Polsinelli, PC

For respondent
Elizabeth B. Prelogar
Solicitor General

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Feb 22 2022
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Jan 19 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/18/2022.
  3. Jan 11 2022
    Waiver of right of respondent United States Department of State to respond filed.
  4. Dec 16 2021
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 20, 2022)