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Lebene Konan v. United States Postal Service, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, No. 23-10179 · judgment March 20, 2024


Certiorari denied · April 21, 2025
Pre-decision estimate: 6% cert probability (95% interval 4%–9%)

Before the decision, about 1.5× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a Fifth Circuit decision below, a circuit split argued in the petition, and a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition).

Question presented

The Ku Klux Klan Act provides a federal cause of action against “two or more persons” who “conspire,” as relevant here, to deprive “any person or class of persons of the equal protection of the laws, or of equal privileges and immunities under the laws.” Rev. Stat. § 1980, 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3). The questions presented are:

  1. Whether federal employees can be liable under Section 1985(3).

  2. Whether or under what circumstances the intracorporate conspiracy doctrine— which holds that employees of the same entity cannot be liable for conspiracy— applies to Section 1985(3).

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Robert J. Clary
Robert Clary, PLLC

For respondent
D. John Sauer
Solicitor General

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Proceedings

  1. Apr 21 2025
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Apr 14 2025
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/17/2025.
  3. Mar 19 2025
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/4/2025.
  4. Mar 19 2025
    Reply of petitioner Lebene Konan filed. (Distributed)
  5. Feb 28 2025
    Brief of respondents United States Postal Service, et al. in opposition filed.
  6. Jan 27 2025
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including February 28, 2025, for all respondents.
  7. Jan 24 2025
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from February 3, 2025 to February 28, 2025, submitted to The Clerk.
  8. Dec 20 2024
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including February 3, 2025.
  9. Dec 19 2024
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 2, 2025 to February 3, 2025, submitted to The Clerk.
  10. Nov 15 2024
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including January 2, 2025.
  11. Nov 13 2024
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from December 2, 2024 to January 2, 2025, submitted to The Clerk.
  12. Oct 28 2024
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 2, 2024)