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Paul Engstrom v. United States

IFP petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 24-1878 · judgment February 5, 2026


Pending

Questions presented

  1. In Bouie v. City of Columbia, 378 U.S. 347 (1964), this Court recognized a right of fair warning against an unforeseeable and retroactive judicial expansion of a criminal statute. Is that right limited exclusively to cases concerning the scope of criminal liability, or does it include cases involving the calculation of a defendant’s sentence?

  2. In Olano v. United States, 507 U.S. 725 (1993), this Court set out the four prongs of analysis for plain-error review. Where a district court’s error results in a sentence that the court would not have otherwise imposed, may the appellate court find plain-error review satisfied without considering Olano’s fourth prong?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Houston Goddard
Goddard Pope PLLC

For respondent
D. John Sauer
Solicitor General

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Aug 13 2026
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/28/2026.
  2. Aug 11 2026
    Waiver of right of respondent United States to respond filed.
  3. Jul 17 2026
    Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due August 21, 2026)