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Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. v. Bradley Bieganski
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 23-1982 · judgment August 12, 2025
Before the decision, about 2× 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 Ninth Circuit decision below.
Question presented
From 2011 until his arrest in 2013, Respondent Bradley Bieganski operated a girls-only private Christian home-school. Bieganski was arrested after several girls accused him of touching their genitals when they were between the ages of 6 and 9. Bieganski was subsequently convicted of three counts of child molestation. His convictions and sentences were affirmed by the Arizona courts; this Court denied his petition for writ of certiorari, and the district court subsequently denied federal habeas corpus relief. However, the Ninth Circuit reversed the judgment of the district court, and found that the Arizona statutes under which Bieganski was convicted unconstitutionally shifted the burden of disproving an essential element of the crime--sexual motivation-- contrary to the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Question Presented is: Did the Ninth Circuit fail to apply the correct deferential standard of review, as set out in 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d), and also misapply this Court’s precedents, set out in Martin and Patterson, regarding when an affirmative defense improperly shifts the burden of proof to a criminal defendant, in violation of the Due Process Clause?
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Jason Dale Lewis
Arizona Attorney General's Office
For respondent
Randal Boyd McDonald
Law Office of Randal B. McDonald
Proceedings
- Apr 20 2026Motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed by respondent GRANTED.
- Apr 20 2026Petition DENIED.
- Mar 25 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/17/2026.
- Mar 23 2026Reply of petitioners Ryan Thornell, et al. filed. (Distributed)
- Mar 11 2026Motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed by respondent Bradley Bieganski.
- Mar 11 2026Brief of Bradley Bieganski in opposition not accepted for filing. (To be Corrected - March 19, 2026)
- Mar 11 2026Brief of respondent Bradley Bieganski in opposition filed. (Corrected)
- Feb 02 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including March 11, 2026.
- Jan 30 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response from February 9, 2026 to March 11, 2026, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jan 09 2026Response Requested. (Due February 9, 2026)
- Jan 07 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/23/2026.
- Jan 05 2026Waiver of right of respondent Bradley Bieganski to respond filed.
- Dec 10 2025Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 12, 2026)
- Nov 06 2025Application (25A523) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until December 10, 2025.
- Nov 04 2025Application (25A523) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from November 10, 2025 to December 10, 2025, submitted to Justice Kagan.