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Martin Cowen, et al. v. Brad Raffensperger, Georgia Secretary of State

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, No. 21-13199 · judgment January 5, 2022


Certiorari denied · October 3, 2022
Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

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

Questions presented

  1. Does a State violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments when its ballot-access restrictions on thirdparty candidates for United States Representative are so onerous that—despite many attempts over more than three-quarters of a century—no such candidates have ever satisfied them and likely never will?

  2. Does a State violate the Equal Protection Clause when it requires third-party candidates to gather more signatures to get on the ballot in a congressional district than they would need for a statewide office?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Bryan Ludington Sells
The Law Office of Bryan L. Sells, LLC

For respondent
Stephen John Petrany
Georgia Department of Law

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
2 cert-stage

Linked docket
21A647

Proceedings

  1. Oct 03 2022
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Sep 01 2022
    Brief amicus curiae of Libertarian National Committee filed. (Distributed)
  3. Aug 29 2022
    Brief amicus curiae of Coalition for Free and Open Elections filed. (Distributed)
  4. Aug 22 2022
    Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, Martin Cowen, et al.
  5. Aug 10 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/28/2022.
  6. Aug 04 2022
    Waiver of right of respondent Brad Raffensperger to respond filed.
  7. Jul 29 2022
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 1, 2022)
  8. Apr 28 2022
    Application (21A647) granted by Justice Thomas extending the time to file until July 29, 2022.
  9. Apr 21 2022
    Application (21A647) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from June 29, 2022 to August 28, 2022, submitted to Justice Thomas.