Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Wilbur Slockish, et al. v. Department of Transportation, et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 21-35220 · judgment November 24, 2021
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Question presented
Petitioners are Native Americans who, for decades, engaged in traditional religious practices at a sacred site on less than one acre of federal land in Oregon. In 2008, the federal government authorized the destruction of the site to add a turn lane to a nearby highway. The government admits it could have added the turn lane without harming the site. But it destroyed the site anyway, rendering Petitioners’ continued religious exercise impossible. Petitioners challenged the destruction of their sacred site under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, seeking full or partial remediation of the site. The district court rejected their claim on the merits, concluding that destruction of the site imposed no “substantial burden” on their religious exercise. On appeal—after thirteen years of litigation and hundreds of pages of lower-court opinions—a Ninth Circuit panel dismissed the case as moot in a four-page, unpublished order. The panel said the federal government had granted the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) an “easement” to add the turn lane, and ODOT had been dismissed from the case; therefore, the court lacked authority to order any remediation of the site. The question presented is: Whether the Ninth Circuit’s mootness ruling warrants summary reversal where the panel clearly misapprehended governing law on mootness and on the authority of federal courts to order equitable relief affecting nonparties.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Luke W. Goodrich
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
For respondent
Elizabeth B. Prelogar
Solicitor General
Proceedings
- Oct 10 2023Petition Dismissed - Rule 46.
- Oct 05 2023Joint stipulation to dismiss the case pursuant to Rule 46.1 filed.
- Oct 04 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including November 1, 2023.
- Oct 02 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response from October 2, 2023 to November 1, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
- Aug 28 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including October 2, 2023.
- Aug 25 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response from September 1, 2023 to October 2, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
- Aug 02 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response from August 2, 2023 to September 1, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
- Aug 02 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including September 1, 2023.
- Jun 28 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including August 2, 2023.
- Jun 26 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response from July 3, 2023 to August 2, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
- May 25 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response from June 2, 2023 to July 3, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
- May 25 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including July 3, 2023.
- Apr 27 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including June 2, 2023.
- Apr 26 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response from May 3, 2023 to June 2, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
- Mar 27 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including May 3, 2023.
- Mar 24 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response from April 3, 2023 to May 3, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
- Feb 27 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including April 3, 2023.
- Feb 24 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response from March 3, 2023 to April 3, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jan 30 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including March 3, 2023.
- Jan 27 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response from February 3, 2023 to March 3, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
- Dec 27 2022Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including February 3, 2023.
- Dec 23 2022Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 4, 2023 to February 3, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
- Nov 23 2022Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including January 4, 2023.
- Nov 22 2022Motion to extend the time to file a response from December 5, 2022 to January 4, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
- Nov 04 2022Brief amici curiae of Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty, et al. filed.
- Nov 04 2022Brief amici curiae of Religious Liberty Law Scholars filed.
- Oct 25 2022Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including December 5, 2022.
- Oct 24 2022Motion to extend the time to file a response from November 4, 2022 to December 5, 2022, submitted to The Clerk.
- Oct 14 2022Blanket Consent filed by Respondent, United States Department of Transportation, et al.
- Oct 03 2022Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due November 4, 2022)
- Jul 21 2022Application (22A49) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until October 3, 2022.
- Jul 19 2022Application (22A49) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from August 4, 2022 to October 3, 2022, submitted to Justice Kagan.