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American Freedom Defense Initiative v. King County

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Petition for certiorari denied on March 7, 2016
Docket No. Op. Below Argument Opinion Vote Author Term
15-584 9th Cir. N/A N/A N/A N/A OT 2015

Issue: (1) Whether King County created a public forum by accepting for display on its property a wide array of controversial political and public-issue ads, including ads that address the same subject matter as petitioners’ anti-terrorism ad, and thus violated the First Amendment by rejecting Petitioners’ ad based on its message; (2) regardless of the nature of the forum, whether King County’s rejection of petitioners’ advertisement based on a claim that this public-issue ad was false or misleading violates the First Amendment; and (3) whether petitioners must demonstrate that there are no alternative ways to express their public-issue message in order for the court to find irreparable harm based on King County’s rejection of their ad.

DateProceedings and Orders (key to color coding)
Nov 2 2015Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 7, 2015)
Dec 3 2015Order extending time to file response to petition to and including December 22, 2015.
Dec 22 2015Brief of respondent King County, Washington in opposition filed.
Jan 5 2016Reply of petitioners American Freedom Defense Initiative, et al. filed. (Distributed)
Jan 6 2016DISTRIBUTED for Conference of January 22, 2016.
Feb 8 2016DISTRIBUTED for Conference of February 19, 2016.
Feb 29 2016DISTRIBUTED for Conference of March 4, 2016.
Mar 7 2016Petition DENIED. Justice Thomas, with whom Justice Alito joins, dissenting from the denial of certiorari. (Detached Opinion)