Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Clinton Siples v. Douglas A. Collins, Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No. 2022-1528 · judgment February 7, 2025
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Question presented
In the uniquely pro-claimant veterans-benefits system, Congress has provided that an otherwisefinal agency decision is subject to revision if that decision was based on “clear and unmistakable error,” or “CUE.” Regulations and longstanding agency practice dictate that CUE is “the kind of error, of fact or of law, that when called to the attention of later reviewers compels the conclusion, to which reasonable minds could not differ, that the result would have been manifestly different but for the error.” 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.105(a)(1)(i), 20.1403(a), (c). And, as this Court confirmed in George v. McDonough, 596 U.S. 740 (2022), the error must be based on the law that applied at the time of the original decision, not a later change in law or interpretation. In the decision below, the Federal Circuit misread George to require more. It held that a CUE claimant must show not only that a legal error had a clear effect on the outcome of a benefits decision, but also that the law itself was undebatably clear at the time of the prior decision. The question presented is: To establish “clear and unmistakable error” based on legal error, must a veteran show that there was an error of law at the time of the challenged decision which undebatably altered the outcome of the benefits decision, as the regulatory text provides, or must a veteran also show that the meaning of the law itself was undebatable, as the Federal Circuit held?
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Melanie Lynn Bostwick
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
For respondent
D. John Sauer
Solicitor General
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences
Amicus briefs
4 cert-stage
Proceedings
- Jun 15 2026Petition DENIED.
- May 26 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/11/2026.
- May 21 2026Reply of petitioner Clinton Siples filed. (Distributed)
- May 11 2026Brief of respondent Douglas A. Collins, Secretary of Veterans Affairs in opposition filed.
- Apr 06 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including May 11, 2026.
- Apr 03 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response from April 13, 2026 to May 11, 2026, submitted to The Clerk.
- Feb 23 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including April 13, 2026.
- Feb 20 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response from February 27, 2026 to April 13, 2026, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jan 23 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including February 27, 2026.
- Jan 22 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 28, 2026 to February 27, 2026, submitted to The Clerk.
- Dec 29 2025Response Requested. (Due January 28, 2026)
- Dec 29 2025Brief amicus curiae of Military-Veterans Advocacy filed.
- Dec 23 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/9/2026.
- Dec 23 2025Brief amici curiae of Swords to Plowshares, et al. filed.
- Dec 22 2025Brief amici curiae of The National Organization of Veterans' Advocates. et al. filed. (Distributed)
- Dec 22 2025Brief amicus curiae of Federal Circuit Bar Association filed.
- Dec 17 2025Waiver of right of respondent Douglas A. Collins, Secretary of Veterans Affairs to respond filed.
- Nov 19 2025Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 26, 2025)