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Stephen R. Porter v. Board of Trustees of North Carolina State University, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, No. 22-1712 · judgment July 6, 2023


Certiorari denied · January 22, 2024
Pre-decision estimate: 5% cert probability

Before the decision, modestly above 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 petition filed soon after the judgment below, and down for a state or local-government respondent.

Question presented

I. Were Petitioner’s statements about the role that diversity and equity considerations should play in faculty hiring and evaluation protected by the First Amendment? a. Was Petitioner speaking as a private citizen on a matter of public concern? b. Alternatively, were Petitioner’s statements related to scholarship and teaching? II. Should the Court resolve the question of whether its holding in Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410 (2006), applies in the same manner to cases involving speech related to scholarship or teaching? III. Was there a causal connection between Petitioner’s protected blog post and Respondents’ adverse employment actions?

Counsel of record

For petitioner

For respondent
Ryan Young Park
North Carolina Department of Justice

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Proceedings

  1. Jan 22 2024
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Jan 03 2024
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/19/2024.
  3. Dec 14 2023
    Brief of respondents Board of Trustees of North Carolina State University, et al. in opposition filed.
  4. Nov 14 2023
    Response Requested. (Due December 14, 2023)
  5. Nov 06 2023
    Brief amici curiae of Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, et al. filed. (Distributed)
  6. Nov 01 2023
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/17/2023.
  7. Oct 24 2023
    Waiver of right of respondent Board of Trustees of North Carolina State University, et al. to respond filed.
  8. Oct 03 2023
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due November 6, 2023)