Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
William Collins, III v. Pamela Bondi, Attorney General, et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, No. 23-2218 · judgment May 15, 2025
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Questions presented
Petitioner William Collins, III, is an upstanding and law-abiding citizen. His only criminal history stems from youthful indiscretion: minor, nonviolent offenses committed as a young adult nearly 25 years ago. None of those offenses suggests that Collins poses a danger to anyone, and none of them would have resulted in his disarmament at the Founding. The questions presented are:
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May the government deprive Collins of his Second Amendment right to bear arms based on these convictions?
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May a person raise an as-applied challenge to a law that imposes an overly broad prohibition on the possession of a firearm?
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Elizabeth Guild Simpson
For respondent
Phillip M. Pickus
Maryland Office of the Attorney General
Case
Subject area
Criminal Procedure (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)
Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference
Linked docket
25A91
Order
Order list, January 20, 2026 · Certiorari denied
Proceedings
- Jan 20 2026Petition DENIED.
- Dec 30 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/16/2026.
- Dec 23 2025Reply of petitioner William Collins, III filed. (Distributed)
- Dec 12 2025Brief of Federal Respondents in opposition filed.
- Nov 14 2025Waiver of right of respondents Anthony G. Brown, Maryland Attorney General, Col. Roland L. Butler, Jr. to respond filed.
- Oct 24 2025Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including December 15, 2025.
- Oct 23 2025Motion to extend the time to file a response from November 14, 2025 to December 15, 2025, submitted to The Clerk.
- Oct 10 2025Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due November 14, 2025)
- Jul 23 2025Application (25A91) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until October 10, 2025.
- Jul 21 2025Application (25A91) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from August 13, 2025 to October 10, 2025, submitted to The Chief Justice.