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Darrell Leon McClanahan, III v. Donald Trump, President of the United States, et al.

IFP petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, No. 25-3007 · judgment January 27, 2026


Pending

Question presented

Whether a federal court may apply TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, 594 U.S. 413 (2021), to dismiss a First Amendment pre-enforcement challenge for lack of Article III standing by requiring past or imminent enforcement, despite this Court's decisions in Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus, 573 U.S. 149 (2014), Babbitt v. United Farm Workers National Union, 442 U.S. 289 (1979), and Virginia v. American Booksellers Association, 484 U.S. 383 (1988), which hold that self­ censorship in response to a credible threat of enforcement is itself a concrete, cognizable injury. Whether the Eighth Circuit's decision which treated a detailed record of governmental labeling of petitioner's speech in active federal litigation, sworn declarations of self-censorship, and the g^vermnenLs-ewn-ehar-aeter-i-z-at-ien-of-t-his-lawsuit-as-pet-if-ioneFs-demand-to-speak Avithout-fear— of reprisal" as "speculative" at the pleading stage can be reconciled with this Court's recognition in National Rifle Association of America v. Vullo, 602 U.S. 175 (2024), that fear of reprisal and informal government pressure leveraged to suppress disfavored speech may state a plausible First Amendment claim actionable without completed enforcement.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Darrell L. McClanahan

For respondent
D. John Sauer
Solicitor General

Case

Subject area
First Amendment (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Order
Order list, October 13, 2026

Proceedings

  1. Oct 13 2026
    The motion of petitioner for leave to proceed in forma pauperis is denied. Petitioner is allowed until November 3, 2026, within which to pay the docketing fee required by Rule 38(a) and to submit a petition in compliance with Rule 33.1 of the Rules of this Court.
  2. Oct 05 2026
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/9/2026.
  3. Aug 27 2026
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/28/2026.
  4. Aug 19 2026
    Waiver of right of respondent Federal Respondents to respond filed.
  5. May 06 2026
    Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due September 14, 2026)