Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Jason Payne v. Joseph R. Biden, Jr., President of the United States, et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, No. 22-5154 · judgment March 21, 2023
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Questions presented
Petitioner challenged the constitutionality of Executive Order No. 14,043, which mandated that all executive branch employees obtain the COVID-19 vaccination. In the decision below, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit misapplied Thunder Basin Coal Co. v. Reich, 510 U.S. 200 (1994), and held that the Civil Service Reform Act precluded jurisdiction over Petitioner’s claim. Two days later, the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit correctly reached the opposite holding in a case involving analogous claims. A few weeks later, this Court clarified how the Thunder Basin factors should apply when a party raises constitutional challenges, emphasizing that “agency adjudications are generally ill suited to address structural constitutional challenges—like those maintained here.” Axon Enter., Inc. v. Fed. Trade Comm’n, 143 S. Ct. 890, 905 (2023) (cleaned up). The Court then granted certiorari in, vacated, and remanded a case involving similar issues for consideration in light of Axon. Bohon v. FERC, No. 22- 256, 2023 WL 3046112, at *1 (U.S. Apr. 24, 2023). Finally, effective May 12, 2023, the President revoked the challenged executive order mandating vaccination. Exec. Order No. 14,099, 88 Fed. Reg. 30,891, 30,891 (May 9, 2023). The questions presented are:
-
Whether the judgment below should be vacated and the case remanded for dismissal as moot under United States v. Munsingwear, Inc., 340 U.S. 36 (1950).
-
Alternatively, whether the judgment below should be vacated and the case remanded for further consideration in light of Axon.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Christopher E. Mills
Spero Law LLC
For respondent
Elizabeth B. Prelogar
Solicitor General
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 8 conferences
Proceedings
- Jan 12 2024Judgment issued.
- Dec 11 2023Petition GRANTED. Judgment VACATED and case REMANDED with instructions to dismiss the case as moot. See United States v. Munsingwear, Inc., 340 U. S. 36 (1950). Justice Jackson, concurring: Although I would require that the party seeking vacatur establish equitable entitlement to that remedy, I accede to vacatur here based on the Court’s established practice when the mootness occurs through the unilateral action of the party that prevailed in the lower court. See Acheson Hotels, LLC v. Laufer, 601 U. S. ___ (2023) (Jackson, J., concurring in the judgment).
- Dec 01 2023Rescheduled.
- Dec 01 2023DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/8/2023.
- Nov 27 2023DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/1/2023.
- Nov 13 2023DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/17/2023.
- Nov 06 2023DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/9/2023.
- Oct 30 2023DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/3/2023.
- Oct 23 2023DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/27/2023.
- Oct 10 2023DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/13/2023.
- Sep 20 2023DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/6/2023.
- Sep 05 2023Brief for respondents Joseph R. Biden, Jr., President of the United States, et al. filed.
- Aug 14 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including September 5, 2023.
- Aug 11 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response from August 21, 2023 to September 5, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jul 12 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including August 21, 2023.
- Jul 11 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response from July 21, 2023 to August 21, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jun 16 2023Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due July 21, 2023)