Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Brenda Horsley, et al. v. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, Inc., et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 24-5812 · judgment November 17, 2025
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Question presented
Question 1: Whether Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905), forecloses a substantive due process claim under the Fourteenth Amendment that an individual has a right to refuse unwanted investigational drugs without incurring a penalty or losing a public benefit to which the individual is otherwise entitled. Question 2: Whether the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act preempt states from conditioning employment in a state-licensed healthcare facility on an individual’s receipt of investigational drugs.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
David J. Schexnaydre
Schexnaydre Law Firm
For respondent
Sean T. Strauss
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Proceedings
- Jun 01 2026Petition DENIED.
- May 19 2026Letter of May 12, 2026 from counsel for petitioners received.
- May 12 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/28/2026.
- May 08 2026Waiver of right of respondents Gavin Newsom, Governor of California, Thomas J. Aragon, Director and State Public Health Officer for the California Department of Public Health to respond filed.
- May 05 2026Waiver of right of respondents Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, et al. to respond filed.
- Apr 24 2026Brief amici curiae of America's Frontline Doctors, et al. filed.
- Apr 16 2026Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due May 22, 2026)
- Apr 14 2026Letter of April 7, 2026 from counsel for applicants received.
- Feb 04 2026Application (25A880) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until April 16, 2026.
- Jan 26 2026Application (25A880) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from February 15, 2026 to April 16, 2026, submitted to Justice Kagan.