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John Xavier Portillo v. United States

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, No. 22-51012 · judgment August 13, 2024


Certiorari denied · February 24, 2025
Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

When a defendant claims ineffective assistance of appellate counsel for failing to pursue an issue on appeal and appellate counsel acknowledges that the issue was potentially strong but that he or she failed to raise it based upon a misunderstanding of the law, must the court review the merits of the omitted issue before determining whether appellate counsel performed deficiently under the first prong of Strickland for failing to raise the issue?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
F. Clinton Broden
Broden and Mickelsen

For respondent
Sarah M. Harris
Acting Solicitor General

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Linked docket
24M52

Proceedings

  1. Feb 24 2025
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Jan 29 2025
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/21/2025.
  3. Jan 22 2025
    Waiver of right of respondent United States to respond filed.
  4. Jan 13 2025
    Motion (24M52) for leave to file a petition for a writ of certiorari with the supplemental appendix under seal Granted.
  5. Dec 24 2024
    MOTION (24M52) DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/10/2025.
  6. Dec 11 2024
    Motion of petitioner for leave to file a petition for a writ of certiorari with the supplemental appendix under seal filed.
  7. Dec 11 2024
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 13, 2025)
  8. Nov 05 2024
    Application (24A439) granted by Justice Alito extending the time to file until December 11, 2024. The application for leave to file Appendix A under seal is granted.
  9. Oct 30 2024
    Application (24A439) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from November 11, 2024 to December 11, 2024, and for leave to file Appendix A under seal, submitted to Justice Alito.