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Anthony Novak v. City of Parma, Ohio, et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, No. 21-3290 · judgment April 29, 2022
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 Sixth Circuit decision below, and down for a state or local-government respondent.
Questions presented
Petitioner Anthony Novak created a parody Facebook page to mock his local police department in Parma, Ohio. Novak published six posts on the page, deriding the department through obvious parody. For his speech, respondents searched, seized, jailed, and prosecuted Novak for a felony under a broadly written Ohio law prohibiting the use of a computer to “disrupt” or “interrupt” police functions. A jury acquitted Novak after trial. When Novak sued for the violation of his First and Fourth Amendment rights, the Sixth Circuit found that there was probable cause to believe Novak’s protected speech was criminal and held, joining a growing circuit split, that the officers were entitled to qualified immunity for their violation of Novak’s rights. The questions presented are:
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Whether an officer is entitled to qualified immunity for arresting an individual based solely on speech parodying the government, so long as no case has previously held the particular speech is protected.
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Whether the Court should reconsider the doctrine of qualified immunity.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Patrick Michael Jaicomo
Institute for Justice
For respondent
Richard Christopher Orest Rezie
Gallagher, Sharp, et al.
Proceedings
- Feb 21 2023Petition DENIED.
- Jan 25 2023DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/17/2023.
- Jan 24 2023Reply of petitioner Anthony Novak filed. (Distributed)
- Jan 06 2023Brief of respondents City of Parma, Ohio, et al. in opposition filed.
- Nov 07 2022Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including January 11, 2023.
- Nov 03 2022Motion to extend the time to file a response from November 28, 2022 to January 11, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
- Oct 28 2022Brief amicus curiae of Cato Institute filed.
- Oct 28 2022Brief amicus curiae of The Babylon Bee filed.
- Oct 28 2022Brief amicus curiae of Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression filed.
- Oct 28 2022Brief amicus curiae of Rutherford Institute filed.
- Oct 04 2022Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including November 28, 2022.
- Oct 03 2022Motion to extend the time to file a response from October 28, 2022 to November 28, 2022, submitted to The Clerk.
- Oct 03 2022Brief amicus curiae of The Onion filed.
- Sep 26 2022Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due October 28, 2022)
- Jun 21 2022Application (21A834) granted by Justice Kavanaugh extending the time to file until September 26, 2022.
- Jun 17 2022Brief in Opposition to Petitioner's Application for Extension of Time to File a Petition for Writ of Certiorari submitted.
- Jun 14 2022Application (21A834) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from July 28, 2022 to September 26, 2022, submitted to Justice Kavanaugh.