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Priscilla Villarreal v. Isidro R. Alaniz, et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, No. 20-40359 · judgment April 8, 2025
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Questions presented
Respondents are police officers and prosecutors who sent Petitioner Priscilla Villarreal to jail for asking a police officer for facts and then reporting what the officer volunteered. Those officials plotted the local journalist’s arrest not for any legitimate purpose, but to silence a vocal critic. In a nine-to-seven en banc decision, the Fifth Circuit held the officials have qualified immunity, concluding it was reasonable to arrest Villarreal for routine news reporting under a Texas felony statute no local official had enforced in its 23-year history. This Court granted certiorari, vacated, and remanded for further consideration in light of Gonzalez v. Trevino, 602 U.S. 653 (2024) (per curiam). But on remand, a splintered Fifth Circuit again held the officials have qualified immunity and largely restored “our previous en banc majority.” In dissent, Judge Higginson remarked, “I do not think it is a proper answer to the High Court to reinstate what we mistakenly said before, just in different packaging.” The questions presented are:
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Whether it obviously violates the First Amendment to arrest someone for asking government officials questions and publishing the information they volunteer.
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Whether qualified immunity is unavailable to public officials who use a state statute in a way that obviously violates the First Amendment, as decisions
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Joshua Tyler Morris
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
For respondent
F. Andrew Hessick
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 7 conferences
Amicus briefs
11 cert-stage
Argument & decision
Decided March 23, 2026.
Proceedings
- Mar 23 2026Petition DENIED. Justice Sotomayor, dissenting from the denial of certiorari. (Detached Opinion)
- Mar 16 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/20/2026.
- Mar 12 2026Electronic record received from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
- Feb 18 2026Record Requested.
- Feb 18 2026Electronic record from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is available on PACER.
- Feb 13 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/20/2026.
- Jan 20 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/23/2026.
- Jan 12 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/16/2026.
- Jan 05 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/9/2026.
- Nov 25 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/12/2025.
- Nov 20 2025Reply of petitioner Priscilla Villareal filed.
- Nov 07 2025Brief of respondents Isidro R. Alaniz, et al. in opposition filed.
- Nov 07 2025Brief of respondent Texas in opposition filed.
- Sep 08 2025Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including November 7, 2025, for all respondents.
- Sep 05 2025Motion of Claudio Trevino, Jr., et al. to extend the time to file a response from September 24, 2025 to November 7, 2025, submitted to The Clerk.
- Aug 25 2025Response Requested. (Due September 24, 2025)
- Aug 20 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2025.
- Aug 08 2025Brief amicus curiae of First Liberty Institute filed.
- Aug 08 2025Brief amici curiae of Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, et al. filed.
- Aug 08 2025Brief amici curiae of Independent Journalists filed.
- Aug 08 2025Brief amicus curiae of Cato Institute filed.
- Aug 08 2025Brief amicus curiae of Constitutional Accountability Center filed.
- Aug 08 2025Brief amici curiae of Journalists David Barstow, et al. filed.
- Aug 06 2025Waiver of right of respondents Claudio Trevino, Jr., Juan L. Ruiz, Deyanira Villarreal, and Does 1-2 to respond filed.
- Aug 06 2025Waiver of right of respondents Isidro R. Alaniz, Marisela Jacaman to respond filed.
- Aug 06 2025Waiver of right of respondent Texas to respond filed.
- Aug 06 2025Brief amicus curiae of Institute for Justice filed.
- Aug 06 2025Brief amicus curiae of Americans for Prosperity Foundation filed.
- Aug 06 2025Brief amici curiae of Young America's Foundation, et al. filed.
- Aug 05 2025Brief amicus curiae of Law Enforcement Action Partnership filed.
- Aug 04 2025Brief amicus curiae of Muckrock Foundation filed.
- Jul 07 2025Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due August 8, 2025)