Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Angela Kay Plese v. Ronald Austin, et al.
Paid petition · Court of Appeals of Tennessee, Eastern Division, No. E2024-00586-COA-R3-CV · judgment March 11, 2025
Certiorari denied · March 9, 2026
Pre-decision estimate: 4% cert probability
Before the decision, roughly the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel who has won certiorari before.
Question presented
Whether the First Amendment allows a plaintiff who suffers no reputational harm to recover for defamation.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
John J. Bursch
Bursch Law PLLC
For respondent
Grant Edward Mitchell
Butler, Vines and Babb, PLLC
Case
Subject area
First Amendment (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)
Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference
Linked docket
25A461
Order
Order list, March 9, 2026 · Certiorari denied
Proceedings
- Mar 09 2026Petition DENIED.
- Feb 18 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/6/2026.
- Feb 17 2026Reply of petitioner Angela Kay Plese filed. (Distributed)
- Feb 04 2026Brief of respondents Ronald Austin, et al. in opposition filed.
- Jan 05 2026Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 5, 2026)
- Oct 23 2025Application (25A461) granted by Justice Kavanaugh extending the time to file until January 4, 2026.
- Oct 18 2025Application (25A461) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from November 5, 2025 to January 4, 2026, submitted to Justice Kavanaugh.