Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Speech First, Inc. v. Pamela Whitten, et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, No. 24-2501 · judgment September 5, 2024
Before the decision, about 11.7× 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 circuit split argued in the petition.
Question presented
Hundreds of universities have a “bias response team”—an official entity that solicits anonymous reports of bias, tracks them, investigates them, asks to meet with the perpetrators, and threatens to refer students for formal discipline. Universities formally define “bias” to cover wide swaths of protected speech, and their teams are staffed with high-ranking university administrators. The Fifth, Sixth, and Eleventh Circuits hold that bias-response teams objectively chill students’ speech; but the Seventh Circuit disagrees. Compare Speech First, Inc. v. Schlissel, 939 F.3d 756 (6th Cir. 2019), Speech First, Inc. v. Fenves, 979 F.3d 319 (5th Cir. 2020), and Speech First, Inc. v. Cartwright, 32 F.4th 1110 (11th Cir. 2022), with Speech First, Inc. v. Killeen, 968 F.3d 628 (7th Cir. 2020). All the cases in this split involve the same plaintiff, the same procedural posture, and the same basic facts. And this Court implicitly deemed the split certworthy before, when it Munsingwear’d a similar decision from the Fourth Circuit after pre-certiorari mootness. Speech First, Inc. v. Sands, 144 S.Ct. 675 (2024). The question presented is: Whether bias-response teams objectively chill students’ speech.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Cameron Thomas Norris
Consovoy McCarthy PLLC
For respondent
John R. Maley
Barnes & Thornburg
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 5 conferences
Amicus briefs
9 cert-stage
Argument & decision
Decided March 3, 2025.
Proceedings
- Mar 03 2025Petition DENIED. Justice Alito would grant the petition for a writ of certiorari. Justice Thomas, dissenting from the denial of certiorari. (Detached Opinion)
- Feb 24 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/28/2025.
- Feb 14 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/21/2025.
- Jan 21 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/24/2025.
- Jan 13 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/17/2025.
- Dec 04 2024DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/10/2025.
- Dec 03 2024Reply of petitioner Speech First, Inc. filed. (Distributed)
- Nov 27 2024Brief of respondents Pamela Whitten, et al. in opposition filed.
- Nov 27 2024Waiver of the 14-day waiting period for the distribution of the petition pursuant to Rule 15.5 filed by petitioner.
- Oct 31 2024Brief amicus curiae of Mountain States Legal Foundation filed.
- Oct 31 2024Brief amicus curiae of Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, Inc. filed.
- Oct 31 2024Brief amici curiae of Alliance Defending Freedom, et al. filed.
- Oct 31 2024Brief amicus curiae of Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression filed.
- Oct 31 2024Brief amicus curiae of Liberty Justice Center filed.
- Oct 31 2024Brief amicus curiae of The Buckeye Institute filed.
- Oct 30 2024Brief amici curiae of Southeastern Legal Foundation, et al. filed.
- Oct 30 2024Brief amicus curiae of Parents Defending Education filed.
- Oct 24 2024Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including December 2, 2024.
- Oct 22 2024Brief amicus curiae of Cato Institute filed.
- Oct 22 2024Motion to extend the time to file a response from October 31, 2024 to December 2, 2024, submitted to The Clerk.
- Sep 27 2024Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due October 31, 2024)