Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Heather Kokesch Del Castillo v. Joseph A. Ladapo, Secretary, Florida Department of Health
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, No. 19-13070 · judgment February 18, 2022
Before the decision, about 1.8× 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 an Eleventh Circuit decision below.
Question presented
In National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) v. Becerra, this Court declined to treat socalled “professional speech” as a “unique category that is exempt from ordinary First Amendment principles.” 138 S. Ct. 2361, 2375 (2018). In the wake of that decision, the Fourth, Fifth, and Ninth Circuits have abandoned their pre-NIFLA professional-speech cases to hold that ordinary First Amendment principles govern as-applied challenges to laws that regulate entry into an occupation. In the decision below, the Eleventh Circuit split from these courts to hold that its pre-NIFLA precedent remained good law and that a “statute that governs the practice of an occupation” is exempt from First Amendment scrutiny, even if its application is triggered solely by the act of communicating a message. The question presented is: Whether a government prohibition on communicating a message is exempt from First Amendment scrutiny simply because that prohibition flows from a statute that governs the practice of an occupation.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Robert James McNamara
Institute for Justice
For respondent
Henry Charles Whitaker
Florida Office of the Attorney General
Proceedings
- Dec 05 2022Petition DENIED.
- Nov 09 2022DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/2/2022.
- Nov 04 2022Reply of petitioner Heather Kokesch Del Castillo filed.
- Oct 24 2022Brief of respondent Joseph A. Ladapo, Secretary, Florida Department of Health in opposition filed.
- Sep 23 2022Response Requested. (Due October 24, 2022)
- Sep 21 2022DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/7/2022.
- Sep 14 2022Waiver of right of respondent Secretary, Florida Department of Health to respond filed.
- Sep 14 2022Brief amicus curiae of The San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals filed.
- Sep 14 2022Brief amicus curiae of Professor Morris M. Kleiner filed.
- Sep 14 2022Brief amici curiae of Rodney A. Smolla, et al. filed.
- Aug 11 2022Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 14, 2022)
- May 04 2022Application (21A685) granted by Justice Thomas extending the time to file until August 12, 2022.
- Apr 27 2022Application (21A685) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from July 13, 2022 to August 12, 2022, submitted to Justice Thomas.