Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Federal Bureau of Investigation, et al. v. Yassir Fazaga, et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 12-56867, 12-56874, 13-55017 · judgment December 20, 2024
GVR'd · April 6, 2026
Pre-decision estimate: 25% cert probability (95% interval 19%–33%)
Before the decision, about 6.1× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a federal-government petitioner, counsel who has won certiorari before, and a Ninth Circuit decision below.
Question presented
Whether dismissal of a claim after assertion of the state-secrets privilege requires a district court to adjudicate the merits of the claim using the privileged information where the privileged information is relevant to a defense. (I)
Counsel of record
For petitioner
D. John Sauer
Solicitor General
For respondent
Ahilan T. Arulanantham
UCLA SCHOOL OF LAW
Proceedings
- May 08 2026Judgment issued.
- Apr 06 2026Petition GRANTED. Judgment VACATED and case REMANDED with the instruction to remand the case to the district court for reconsideration in light of recent factual developments pertinent to this case and the government's motion to dismiss.
- Mar 30 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/2/2026.
- Mar 23 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/27/2026.
- Mar 16 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/20/2026.
- Mar 02 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/6/2026.
- Feb 23 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/27/2026.
- 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.
- Dec 23 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/9/2026.
- Dec 23 2025Reply of petitioners Federal Bureau of Investigation, et al. filed. (Distributed)
- Dec 19 2025Waiver of the 14-day waiting period for the distribution of the petition pursuant to Rule 15.5 filed by petitioners.
- Dec 16 2025Brief of respondents Yassir Fazaga, et al. in opposition filed.
- Nov 07 2025Brief of respondents Paul Allen and Kevin Armstrong in support filed.
- Oct 29 2025Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted in part and the time is extended to and including December 16, 2025.
- Oct 28 2025Motion to extend the time to file a response from November 7, 2025 to January 6, 2026, submitted to The Clerk.
- Oct 08 2025Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due November 7, 2025)
- Jul 30 2025Application (25A113) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until October 11, 2025.
- Jul 24 2025Application (25A113) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from August 12, 2025 to October 11, 2025, submitted to Justice Kagan.