SCOTUSblog's list of petitions with a "reasonable" chance of being granted

Conference of 11/21

Name	Counsel of Record	Certiorari To	DN	Summary	Status
Illinois v. Sloup	Gary Feinerman SG of Illinois	App. Ct. of Ill.	05-1367	Whether the Fourth Amendment requires a police officer, during a lawful traffic stop, to have reasonable suspicion that contraband is present before asking the motorist questions related to contraband.	Denied
Angelos v. U.S.	Erik Luna Salt Lake City	CA10	06-26	Whether this Court's summary disposition in Hutto v. Davis stands as a precedential bar to a lower court otherwise concluding that a sentence violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment under the Solem-Harmelin analysis articulated after Davis.	Denied
Dantone, Inc. v. US	Ian Comisky Blank Rome	CA3	06-71	Whether the bank fraud statute, 18 U.S.C. sec. 1344, requires only an act that could put the bank at risk of loss or requires proof of intent to harm the bank.	Denied
Wilkie v. Robbins	Paul Clement SG of US	CA10	06-219	Whether government officials acting pursuant to their regulatory authority can be guilty under RICO of the predicate act of extortion under color of official right for attempting to obtain property for the sole benefit of the government and, if so, whether that statutory prohibition was clearly established.	Granted
Skoros v. City of New York	Robert Muise Thomas More Law Center	CA2	06-271	Whether the Establishment Clause prohibits a public school policy stating that year-end holiday celebrations may feature certain Jewish and Islamic religious symbols but bans the use of Christian religious symbols, namely the nativity scene.  This case is featured in "Conference Call" on 11/20.	Relisted
Florida v. Rabb	Charles Crist, Jr. AG of Fla.	4^th Dist. Ct. of App. of Fla.	06-309	Whether a canine sniff does not constitute a search because it is limited in scope and only reveals the presence or absence of contraband which does not compromise any legitimate interest in privacy.	Denied
Knowles v. Mirzayance	Steven Mercer CA AG's office	CA9	06-396	Whether a federal habeas court may grant relief by reviewing a state prisoner's claim de novo on the basis of a federal evidentiary hearing record, without considering whether the state court's adjudication of the claim had been reasonable.	Relisted
Ray v. CSX	John Fishwick, Jr. Lichtenstein, Fishwick, & Johnson, P.L.C.	CA4	06-405	Determining the standard for who can be a relevant "decisionmaker" and agent for an employer in a suit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for wrongful termination in the context of discriminatory enforcement of disciplinary procedures.	Denied
Narragansett Indian Tribe v. Rhode Island	Ian Gershengorn Jenner & Block	CA1	06-414	Whether a federal statute's conferral of "jurisdiction" over Indian lands, but not over the Tribe as sovereign, impliedly abrogates the tribal government's sovereign immunity and thus empowers a state judge to authorize state police to execute a search warrant and arrest tribal officials acting in their official capacities.	Denied
On Demand Machine Corp. v. Ingram Industries	Will Cunningham Polster, Lieder, Woodruff, and Lucchesi	CAFC	06-449	Whether the Federal Circuit has violated its constitutional authority by rendering moot 35 U.S.C. sec. 112, para. 2 in holding that "[patent] claims cannot be of broader scope than the invention that is set forth in the specialization."	Denied
Price v. Philip Morris	David Frederick KHHTEF	Sup. Ct. of Ill.	06-465	Whether a negotiated Federal Trade Commission consent order operates, as a matter of federal law, as a safe harbor immunizing non-parties to the consent order from liability under otherwise applicable state law for conduct similar to that permitted under the order.	Denied