Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Laurence Sessum v. United States
IFP petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, No. 24-6259, 24-6689 · judgment July 8, 2025
Questions presented
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Whether this Court’s contemporaneous-evidence requirement from Lee v. United States, 582 U.S. 357 (2017), applies only to accepted-plea cases and is therefore inapplicable to rejected-plea ineffective-assistance claims governed by Lafler v. Cooper, 566 U.S. 156 (2012), and Missouri v. Frye, 566 U.S. 134 (2012).
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Whether the Fourth Circuit violated the Sixth Amendment and the Certificate-ofAppealability standard in Buck v. Davis, 580 U.S. 100 (2017), by denying a COA despite (a) factual disputes requiring an evidentiary hearing, (b) evidence supporting deficient performance and prejudice under Strickland, Lafler, and Frye, and (c) a ruling conflicting with United States v. Brown, No. 22-7105 (4th Cir. May 20, 2025), and the sister-circuit precedents relied on in Brown, creating a Rule 10(a) conflict.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Laurence Sessum
For respondent
D. John Sauer
Solicitor General
Case
Subject area
Criminal Procedure (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)
Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference
Order
Order list, March 23, 2026 · Certiorari denied
Proceedings
- Mar 23 2026Petition DENIED.
- Feb 26 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/20/2026.
- Feb 20 2026Waiver of right of respondent United States to respond filed.
- Dec 15 2025Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due March 19, 2026)