Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Jillian Lesko v. United States
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No. 2023-1823 · judgment January 30, 2026
(petition-stage, structural)
About 6.9× the 4.1% base rate. The model weights this up for counsel who has won certiorari before, a circuit split argued in the petition, and a petition citing three to ten dissents.
Question presented
The Federal Employees Pay Act (FEPA) contains a provision giving the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) authority to “prescribe regulations . . . necessary for the administration of this subchapter.” 5 U.S.C. § 5548(a). The en banc Federal Circuit, splitting 7-4, held that this provision required it to adopt OPM’s definitions of terms in the FEPA, even where those definitions were contrary to the longstanding judicial construction of the statute. The question presented is: Under this Court’s decision in Loper Bright, does the general rulemaking provision in 5 U.S.C. § 5548(a) delegate authority to OPM to authoritatively interpret FEPA, such that courts must adopt OPM’s definitions?
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Easha Anand
Stanford Supreme Court Litigation Clinic
For respondent
D. John Sauer
Solicitor General
Case
Subject area
Judicial Power (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)
Conference history
—
Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage
Proceedings
- Sep 30 2026Brief amicus curiae of Cato Institute filed.
- Sep 29 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including October 30, 2026.
- Sep 25 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response from September 30, 2026 to October 30, 2026, submitted to The Clerk.
- Aug 26 2026Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 30, 2026)