Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Penny Gardner v. Washington, Acting Through and dba the Washington Health Care Authority
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 24-2418 · judgment April 24, 2026
1%
estimated cert probability
(petition-stage, structural)
(petition-stage, structural)
At the Nov 6 conference: granted 0.08% · GVR 0.06% · relisted 5.3% · denied 95%
Granted ever, conference-stage estimate: 0.77%
Well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Question presented
Whether a State can be a 42 U.S.C. §1983 “person” when its own law so provides, and whether a plaintiff may rely on that state law.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Mary E. Schultz
Mary Schultz Law, P.S.
For respondent
Tera Marie Heintz
Washington State Attorney General's Office
Case
Subject area
Civil Rights (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)
Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference
Proceedings
- Oct 07 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/6/2026.
- Oct 02 2026Waiver of right of respondent State of Washington, acting through and doing business as the Washington Health Care Authority to respond filed.
- Aug 31 2026Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due October 9, 2026)