Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Jonathan Roberts, et al. v. James V. McDonald, Commissioner, New York State Department of Health, et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, No. 22-622 · judgment November 15, 2022
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Questions presented
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted emergency approval for lifesaving oral antiviral treatments. Facing a severe shortage of these treatments, the State of New York and New York City issued directives instructing medical providers to prioritize treatments to individuals on the basis of race. Petitioners are New York City residents who are disadvantaged by the directives’ racial criteria. The Second Circuit held that being disadvantaged for lifesaving treatments on account of race was not an “actual or imminent” injury. It required Petitioners to show they were denied treatment on the basis of race. Because the oral antiviral treatments must be taken within five days of symptom onset, the lower court’s decision effectively shields the government’s race-based directives from judicial review. The questions presented are:
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Whether plaintiffs’ injury is imminent where it flows from a predictable course of events that results from the defendant’s conduct.
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Whether the Second Circuit’s ruling conflicts with Ne. Fla. Chapter of Assoc. Gen. Contractors of Am. v. City of Jacksonville, Fla., 508 U.S. 656, 666 (1993), which holds that the “injury in fact in an equal protection case” involving racial discrimination “is the denial of equal treatment resulting from the imposition of the barrier, not the ultimate inability to obtain the benefit.”
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Caleb Randall Trotter
Pacific Legal Foundation
For respondent
Richard Paul Dearing
New York City Law Department
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 5 conferences
Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage
Argument & decision
Decided June 30, 2023.
Proceedings
- Jun 30 2023Petition DENIED. Statement of Justice Alito, with whom Justice Thomas joins, respecting the denial of certiorari. (Detached Opinion)
- Jun 29 2023DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/29/2023.
- Jun 21 2023Rescheduled.
- Jun 20 2023DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/22/2023.
- Jun 13 2023Rescheduled.
- Jun 12 2023DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/15/2023.
- Jun 06 2023Rescheduled.
- Jun 05 2023DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/8/2023.
- May 31 2023Rescheduled.
- May 16 2023DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/1/2023.
- May 11 2023Reply of petitioners Jonathan Roberts, et al. filed.
- Apr 27 2023Brief of respondent James V. McDonald, Commissioner, NY State Department of Health in opposition filed.
- Apr 25 2023Brief of respondent Department of Health and Mental Hygiene of the City of New York in opposition filed.
- Mar 17 2023Motion of Department of Mental Health and Mental Hygiene to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including April 27, 2023, for all respondents.
- Mar 13 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including April 27, 2023, for all respondents.
- Mar 13 2023Brief amicus curiae of Center for Equal Opportunity, et al.
- Mar 10 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response from March 13, 2023 to April 27, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
- Mar 09 2023Motion of Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to extend the time to file a response from March 13, 2023 to April 27, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
- Feb 08 2023Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due March 13, 2023)