Supreme Court Report

Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →

Montgomery Blair Sibley v. Chauncey J. Watches, Judge, Steuben County, New York, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, No. 24-855 · judgment August 26, 2025


Certiorari denied · February 23, 2026
Pre-decision estimate: 0% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

Although this Second Amendment case began seven years ago primarily centered upon the denial of a pistol permit by New York State based upon secret evidence undisclosed to Petitioner, the case metamorphosed into a forensic exposition of the decent of the New York State and federal justice systems far below Constitutional minimums and thus raises the following four (4) important questions for review: WHETHER federal in forma pauperis litigants may be significantly denied immediate access to Court while filing-fee paying litigants suffer no such constraints as the Second Circuit has here below tacitly approved? WHETHER New York’s handgun licensing substantive law and licensing adjudicative practices denied Petitioner: (i) his Second Amendment rights, (ii) due process and (iii) equal protection? WHETHER the Second Circuit's refusal to address significant issues raised by Petitioner by summarily claiming those issues were “without merit” impermissibly trespassed upon Petitioner’s right to “petition” and be meaningfully “heard” and thereby breached the settled principle that litigants in similar situations should be treated the same, a fundamental component of stare decisis and the rule of law? WHETHER the corrigendum of 42 United States Code §1983 required by the “separation-of-powers ” principle and intellectual integrity obligates this Court to reconsider the scope of the judge-made doctrine of judicial immunity stated in Pierson v. Ray, 386 U. S. 547, 554 (1967)?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Montgomery Blair Sibley

For respondent
Barbara Dale Underwood
New York Solicitor General

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Feb 23 2026
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Feb 04 2026
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/20/2026.
  3. Jan 28 2026
    Waiver of right of respondent Watches, Judge, et al. to respond filed.
  4. Dec 03 2025
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 6, 2026)