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Robert Wayne Hutton v. United States
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 24-2202 · judgment November 17, 2025
Before the decision, about 1.8× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel who has won certiorari before, a Ninth Circuit decision below, and a petition filed soon after the judgment below.
Question presented
18 U.S.C. § 2251(a) makes it a crime to “use[] ... any minor to engage in ... any sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing any visual depiction of such conduct.” “[S]exually explicit conduct” is defined to include “lascivious exhibition of the ... genitals[] or pubic area of any person.” 18 U.S.C. § 2256(2)(A). Petitioner took surreptitious videos of a nude minor getting in and out of the shower. The minor did not know she was being filmed and she engaged in no sexual conduct. The question presented, on which there is an acknowledged circuit conflict, is: Whether, as a matter of law, secretly recording a minor’s ordinary and routine nonsexual activity falls outside the scope of 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a)?
Counsel of record
For petitioner
E. Joshua Rosenkranz
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
For respondent
D. John Sauer
Solicitor General
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference
Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage
Proceedings
- Jun 29 2026Petition DENIED.
- Jun 09 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/25/2026.
- Jun 05 2026Reply of petitioner Robert Wayne Hutton filed. (Distributed)
- May 20 2026Brief of respondent United States in opposition filed.
- Apr 01 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including May 20, 2026.
- Mar 31 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response from April 20, 2026 to May 20, 2026, submitted to The Clerk.
- Mar 17 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including April 20, 2026.
- Mar 16 2026Brief amici curiae of Federal Public and Community Defender Organizations of the Ninth Circuit filed.
- Mar 13 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response from March 20, 2026 to April 20, 2026, submitted to The Clerk.
- Feb 13 2026Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due March 20, 2026)