Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Debra A. Vitagliano v. County of Westchester, New York
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, No. 23-30 · judgment June 21, 2023
Before the decision, about 5.8× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a petition filed soon after the judgment below, counsel who has won certiorari before, and a Second Circuit decision below, and down for a state or local-government respondent.
Question presented
In Hill v. Colorado, 530 U.S. 703 (2000), this Court upheld a law that banned approaching within eight feet of another person in public fora outside abortion clinics “for the purpose of * * * engaging in oral protest, education, or counseling,” unless that person consents. On the day it was decided, members of this Court recognized that Hill stands “in stark contradiction of the constitutional principles [the Court] appl[ies] in all other contexts” outside abortion. Id. at 742 (Scalia, J., dissenting); see also id. at 765 (Kennedy, J., dissenting) (Hill “contradicts more than a half century of well-established First Amendment principles”). Three Justices have since recognized that intervening precedents have “all but interred” Hill’s analysis, leaving it “an aberration in [the Court’s] case law.” City of Austin v. Reagan Nat’l Advert. of Austin, LLC, 142 S. Ct. 1464, 1484, 1491 (2022) (Thomas, J., joined by Gorsuch & Barrett, JJ., dissenting). And the Court has observed that Hill was a “distort[ion]” of “First Amendment doctrines.” Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org., 142 S. Ct. 2228, 2276 & n.65 (2022). In June 2022, Westchester County passed a law materially identical to the one upheld in Hill. The Second Circuit upheld the law based solely on Hill’s continued precedential force. The question presented is whether the Court should overrule Hill.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Mark Leonard Rienzi
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
For respondent
John M. Nonna
Westchester County Law Department
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences
Amicus briefs
18 cert-stage
Proceedings
- Dec 11 2023Petition DENIED.
- Dec 01 2023Rescheduled.
- Dec 01 2023DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/8/2023.
- Nov 08 2023DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/1/2023.
- Nov 03 2023Waiver of the 14-day waiting period for the distribution of the petition pursuant to Rule 15.5 filed by petitioner.
- Nov 02 2023Reply of petitioner Debra A. Vitagliano filed.
- Oct 25 2023Brief of respondent County of Westchester, New York in opposition filed.
- Aug 31 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including October 25, 2023.
- Aug 30 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response from September 25, 2023 to October 25, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
- Aug 24 2023Brief amici curiae of Human Coalition, et al. filed.
- Aug 24 2023Brief amici curiae of Life Legal Defense Foundation, et al. filed.
- Aug 24 2023Brief amici curiae of Eugene Volokh, et al. filed.
- Aug 24 2023Brief amicus curiae of Americans United for Life filed.
- Aug 24 2023Brief amicus curiae of Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence filed.
- Aug 24 2023Brief amicus curiae of Christian Legal Society filed.
- Aug 24 2023Brief amici curiae of Knights of Columbus, et al. filed.
- Aug 24 2023Brief amicus curiae of Ethics and Public Policy Center filed.
- Aug 24 2023Brief amici curiae of Eleanor McCullen, et al. filed.
- Aug 24 2023Brief amicus curiae of Alliance Defending Freedom filed.
- Aug 24 2023Brief amici curiae of Kentucky, et al. filed.
- Aug 24 2023Brief amici curiae of Jeannie Hill and the American Center for Law and Justice filed.
- Aug 24 2023Brief amicus curiae of Liberty Justice Center filed.
- Aug 24 2023Brief amici curiae of Pregnancy Care Center, et al. filed.
- Aug 24 2023Brief amici curiae of Texas Right to Life and America First Legal Foundation filed.
- Aug 24 2023Brief amicus curiae of Students for Life of America filed.
- Aug 24 2023Brief amici curiae of Wagner Faith & Freedom Center and Right to Life of Michigan filed.
- Aug 24 2023Brief amici curiae of Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, et al. filed.
- Jul 31 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including September 25, 2023.
- Jul 28 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response from August 24, 2023 to September 25, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jul 21 2023Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due August 24, 2023)