Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Kaulana Alo-Kaonohi v. United States
IFP petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 23-373, 23-635 · judgment July 10, 2025
Questions presented
The questions presented are:
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Did Congress exceed its authority under Section 2 of the Thirteenth Amendment when it enacted 18 U.S.C. § 249(a)(1), the federal hate crimes statute, which criminalizes all acts of racially motivated violence—even those that have nothing to do with slavery or involuntary servitude?
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Should the Court should overrule Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., 392 U.S. 409 (1968) and apply the congruent-and-proportional and current-needs tests that govern the enforcement clauses of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Thirteenth Amendment’s substantively identical enforcement clause?
Counsel of record
For petitioner
William Miles Pope
Goddard Pope PLLC
For respondent
D. John Sauer
Solicitor General
Case
Subject area
Federalism (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)
Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference
Order
Order list, October 5, 2026 · Certiorari denied
Proceedings
- Oct 05 2026Petition DENIED.
- Jul 09 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/28/2026.
- Jul 07 2026Waiver of right of respondent United States to respond filed.
- Jun 04 2026Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due July 10, 2026)