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Dennis Birkley v. United States, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, No. 23-2177, 24-1089 · judgment July 1, 2025


Certiorari denied · October 5, 2026
Pre-decision estimate: 0% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate: the model weighted this down for a self-represented petitioner.

Questions presented

  1. Whether Petitioner’s Sixth Amendment right to confrontation was violated when FBI Special Agent Kathryn Graham testified as a summary witness by summarizing the investigative findings, observations, and conclusions of other FBI agents who did not tes­ tify and were not subject to cross-examination—and whether the Seventh Circuit denied Petitioner mean­ ingful review by failing to apply Crawford v. Washing­ ton, 541 U. S. 36 (2004), to this preserved constitu­ tional objection,

  2. Whether the Ex Post Facto Clause of Article I, Section 9 was violated when Petitioner was convicted under an Indiana mechanic’s lien statute—Indiana Code § 9-22-6-2—that became effective January 1, 2015, based on conduct occurring in 2013 and 2014, and whether the government’s retroactive application and retroactive redefinition of that statute’s meaning to characterize Petitioner’s lawful conduct as criminal, further compounded the constitutional violation.

  3. Whether the Seventh Circuit’s complete failure to address Petitioner’s properly preserved constitu­ tional claims—including Confrontation Clause and Ex Post Facto objections raised at trial, at sentencing, and on appeal—denied Petitioner his Fifth Amend­ ment right to due process and meaningful appellate review, in a manner this Court’s supervisory author­ ity requires it to correct.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Dennis Birkley

For respondent
D. John Sauer
Solicitor General

Case

Subject area
Criminal Procedure (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Order
Order list, October 5, 2026 · Certiorari denied

Proceedings

  1. Oct 05 2026
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Jul 22 2026
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/28/2026.
  3. Jul 10 2026
    Waiver of right of respondent United States to respond filed.
  4. Aug 30 2025
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due July 29, 2026)