Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Priscilla Villarreal v. Isidro R. Alaniz, et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, No. 20-40359 · judgment January 23, 2024
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Questions presented
Respondents are police officers and prosecutors who sent Petitioner Priscilla Villarreal to jail for asking a police officer for facts and then reporting what the officer volunteered. Those officials plotted the local journalist’s arrest not for any legitimate purpose, but to silence a vocal critic. In a nine-to-seven en banc decision with four dissenting opinions, the Fifth Circuit held the officials have qualified immunity. The Fifth Circuit concluded it was reasonable to arrest Villarreal for routine news reporting under a Texas felony statute no local official had enforced in its 23-year history. In dissent, Judge Ho explained that the majority “treat[s] the First Amendment as a secondclass right” and “contradicts” this Court’s holdings that “subject arrests to First Amendment scrutiny.” App. 77a, 80a. The Fifth Circuit’s decision also conflicts with multiple circuits that have held officials are not entitled to qualified immunity when they use state statutes in ways that criminalize undoubted First Amendment rights. The questions presented are:
-
Whether it obviously violates the First Amendment to arrest someone for asking government officials questions and publishing the information they volunteer.
-
Whether qualified immunity is unavailable to public officials who use a state statute in a way that obviously violates the First Amendment, as decisions from the Sixth, Eighth, and Tenth Circuits have held, or whether qualified immunity shields those officials, as the Fifth Circuit held below.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Joshua Tyler Morris
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
For respondent
F. Andrew Hessick III
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences
Amicus briefs
13 cert-stage
Proceedings
- Nov 18 2024Judgment Issued.
- Oct 15 2024Petition GRANTED. Judgment VACATED and case REMANDED for further consideration in light of Gonzalez v. Trevino, 602 U. S. ___ (2024) (per curiam).
- Sep 18 2024DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/11/2024.
- Sep 13 2024Reply of petitioner Priscilla Villarreal filed.
- Sep 04 2024Brief of respondent Texas in opposition filed.
- Sep 04 2024Brief of respondents Isidro R. Alaniz, et al. in opposition filed.
- Jul 24 2024Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including September 4, 2024, for all respondents.
- Jul 23 2024Motion to extend the time to file a response from August 5, 2024 to September 4, 2024, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jun 25 2024Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including August 5, 2024, for all respondents.
- Jun 24 2024Motion of respondents Claudio Trevino, Jr., et al. to extend the time to file a response from July 5, 2024 to August 5, 2024, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jun 21 2024Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including August 5, 2024.
- Jun 18 2024Motion of respondent Texas to extend the time to file a response from July 5, 2024 to August 5, 2024, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jun 05 2024Response Requested. (Due July 5, 2024)
- Jun 04 2024DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/20/2024.
- May 24 2024Brief amicus curiae of Institute for Justice filed.
- May 24 2024Brief amici curiae of Young America's Foundation and Manhattan Institute filed.
- May 24 2024Brief amicus curiae of Project for Privacy and Surveillance Accountability filed.
- May 24 2024Brief amicus curiae of Cato Institute filed.
- May 24 2024Brief amici curiae of Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and 21 News Organizations filed.
- May 24 2024Brief amicus curiae of Center for American Liberty filed.
- May 24 2024Brief amicus curiae of Constitutional Accountability Center filed.
- May 23 2024Brief amici curiae of Independent Journalists filed.
- May 23 2024Brief amicus curiae of Law Enforcement Action Partnership filed.
- May 22 2024Brief amici curiae of Reporters, et al. filed.
- May 22 2024Brief amicus curiae of Muckrock Foundation filed.
- May 09 2024Waiver of right of respondents Isidro R. Alaniz, Marisela Jacaman to respond filed.
- May 03 2024Brief amicus curiae of First Liberty Institute filed.
- May 03 2024Brief amicus curiae of Americans for Prosperity Foundation filed.
- May 02 2024Waiver of right of respondent Texas to respond filed.
- Apr 26 2024Waiver of right of respondents Claudio Trevino, Jr., Juan L. Ruiz, Deyanira Villarrel, Does1-2 to respond filed.
- Apr 22 2024Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due May 24, 2024)