Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Gretchen Whitmer, Governor of Michigan, et al. v. Enbridge Energy, LP, et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, No. 24-1608 · judgment April 23, 2025
Before the decision, modestly above the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel who has won certiorari before, a state or local-government petitioner, and a Sixth Circuit decision below, and down for a business respondent.
Question presented
The State of Michigan revoked and terminated an easement that had permitted pipelines to occupy sovereign lands beneath navigable waters. The private easement holder sued state officials in federal court, and the Sixth Circuit allowed the suit to proceed under Ex parte Young on the view that state sovereign immunity does not apply unless the requested relief would divest the State of full ownership and eliminate all regulatory power over the submerged lands—lands that this Court has recognized as implicating “special sovereignty interests.” Idaho v. Coeur d’Alene Tribe of Idaho, 521 U.S. 261, 281 (1997) (principal opinion); see id. at 289 (O’Connor, J., concurring in part and concurring in the judgment). The question presented is: Whether a State is the real party in interest, and therefore entitled to sovereign immunity, where a private plaintiff sues state officials in federal court for relief that would diminish, but not necessarily extinguish, the State’s ownership and control of its sovereign lands.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Ann Maurine Sherman
Michigan Department of Attorney General
For respondent
Alice Loughran
Steptoe LLP
Proceedings
- Mar 30 2026Petition DENIED.
- Mar 11 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/27/2026.
- Mar 09 2026Reply of petitioners Gretchen Whitmer, et al. filed. (Distributed)
- Feb 23 2026Brief of respondents Enbridge Energy, LP, et al. in opposition filed.
- Jan 27 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including February 23, 2026.
- Jan 23 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response from February 2, 2026 to February 23, 2026, submitted to The Clerk.
- Dec 18 2025Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including February 2, 2026.
- Dec 17 2025Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 2, 2026 to February 2, 2026, submitted to The Clerk.
- Dec 02 2025Response Requested. (Due January 2, 2026)
- Nov 25 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/12/2025.
- Nov 17 2025Waiver of right of respondent Enbridge Energy, LP; Enbridge Energy Company, Inc.; Enbridge Energy Partners, LP, et al. to respond filed.
- Nov 13 2025Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 17, 2025)
- Sep 03 2025Application (25A252) granted by Justice Kavanaugh extending the time to file until November 13, 2025.
- Aug 28 2025Application (25A252) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from September 14, 2025 to November 13, 2025, submitted to Justice Kavanaugh.