Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Frank Kendall, Secretary of the Air Force, et al. v. Hunter Doster, et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, No. 22-3497, 22-3702 · judgment November 29, 2022
Before the decision, about 4.6× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a federal-government petitioner, counsel who has won certiorari before, and a Sixth Circuit decision below.
Question presented
In 2021, the Secretary of Defense ordered all military servicemembers to be vaccinated against COVID19. In the decision below, the Sixth Circuit affirmed orders preliminarily enjoining the Air Force from applying the COVID-19 vaccination requirement to individual plaintiffs who had unsuccessfully sought religious exemptions, certifying a class, and granting a class-wide preliminary injunction. The court of appeals entered judgment on November 29, 2022. On December 23, 2022, Congress enacted legislation directing the Secretary of Defense to rescind the COVID-19 vaccination requirement, and he did so shortly thereafter. The question presented is as follows: Whether, pursuant to United States v. Munsingwear, Inc., 340 U.S. 36 (1950), this Court should vacate the court of appeals’ judgment and remand with instructions to direct the district court to vacate its orders granting preliminary injunctions as moot. (I)
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Elizabeth B. Prelogar
Solicitor General
For respondent
Thomas B. Bruns
Bruns, Connell, Vollmar & Armstrong, LLC
Proceedings
- Jan 12 2024Judgment issued.
- Dec 11 2023Petition GRANTED. Judgment VACATED and case REMANDED with instructions to direct the District Court to vacate as moot its preliminary injunctions. See United States v. Munsingwear, Inc., 340 U. S. 36 (1950). Justice Jackson, dissenting: In my view, the party seeking vacatur has not established equitable entitlement to that remedy. See Acheson Hotels, LLC v. Laufer, 601 U. S. ___ (2023) (Jackson, J., concurring in the judgment).
- Dec 01 2023Rescheduled.
- Dec 01 2023DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/8/2023.
- Nov 27 2023DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/1/2023.
- Nov 01 2023DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/17/2023.
- Nov 01 2023Reply of petitioners Frank Kendall III, Secretary of the Air Force, et al. filed. (Distributed)
- Oct 18 2023Brief of respondents Hunter Doster, et al. in opposition filed.
- Aug 22 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including October 18, 2023, for all respondents.
- Aug 21 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response from September 18, 2023 to October 18, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
- Aug 16 2023Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 18, 2023)
- Jul 07 2023Application (23A8) granted by Justice Kavanaugh extending the time to file until August 16, 2023.
- Jul 05 2023Application (23A8) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from July 16, 2023 to August 16, 2023, submitted to Justice Kavanaugh.