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Colleen Reilly, et al. v. City of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, No. 22-1795 · judgment July 10, 2023


Certiorari denied · February 20, 2024
Pre-decision estimate: 23% cert probability (95% interval 15%–33%)

Before the decision, about 5.5× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel who has won certiorari before, a Third Circuit decision below, and a circuit split argued in the petition, and down for a state or local-government respondent.

Questions presented

  1. Whether the test for content neutrality set forth in Hill v. Colorado, 530 U.S. 703 (2000), should be overruled in light of this Court’s holding in Reed v. Town of Gilbert, 576 U.S. 155 (2015), and McCullen v. Coakley, 573 U.S. 464 (2014), that laws restricting speech on the basis of its function or purpose are facially content-based.

  2. Whether a local government can escape First Amendment liability under Monell even though its single enforcement of a speech-restrictive ordinance chills the petitioner from further speaking, and the government’s designated Rule 30(b)(6) witnesses and its counsel repeatedly confirm through binding admissions that the ordinance operates as a content and viewpoint-based restriction.

  3. Whether a federal court may disregard the unrebutted testimony of a government’s Rule 30(b)(6) witnesses, corroborated by written and oral admissions of counsel, that its ordinance restricts speech based on content and viewpoint, and notwithstanding this evidence provide a limiting construction that the ordinance does not restrict speech based on content or viewpoint.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Mathew D. Staver

For respondent
Maureen Murphy McBride
Lamb McErlane PC

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Proceedings

  1. Feb 20 2024
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Jan 31 2024
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/16/2024.
  3. Jan 30 2024
    Reply of petitioners Colleen Reilly, et al. filed. (Distributed)
  4. Jan 16 2024
    Brief of respondents City of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, et al. in opposition filed.
  5. Dec 06 2023
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including January 16, 2024. See Rule 30.1.
  6. Dec 05 2023
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from December 14, 2023 to January 15, 2024, submitted to The Clerk.
  7. Nov 14 2023
    Response Requested. (Due December 14, 2023)
  8. Nov 08 2023
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/1/2023.
  9. Nov 06 2023
    Waiver of right of respondent City of Harrisburg, et al. to respond filed.
  10. Oct 10 2023
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due November 13, 2023)