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Dawson v. Steager

Docket No.	Op. Below	Argument	Opinion	Vote	Author	Term
17-419	W. Va.	Dec 3, 2018 Tr.Aud.	Feb 20, 2019	9-0	Gorsuch	OT 2018

Holding: By taxing the federal pension benefits of U.S. Marshals Service retiree James Dawson, while exempting from taxation the pension benefits of certain state and local law enforcement officers, West Virginia unlawfully discriminates against Dawson as 4 U.S.C. §111 forbids.

Judgment: Reversed and remanded, 9-0, in an opinion by Justice Gorsuch on February 20, 2019.

SCOTUSblog Coverage

Opinion analysis: A win for one taxpayer, but not many more (Daniel Hemel)
OT2018 #11: "A Lot Of Meatballs" (First Mondays)
Argument analysis: What would John Marshall do? (Daniel Hemel)
Argument preview: McCulloch’s modern meaning (Daniel Hemel)
Court sends battles over services for same-sex couples, North Carolina gerrymandering back to lower courts (Updated) (Amy Howe)
Petition of the day (Aurora Barnes)

Date	Proceedings and Orders (key to color coding)
Aug 07 2017	Application (17A159) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from August 15, 2017 to October 13, 2017, submitted to The Chief Justice.
Aug 09 2017	Application (17A159) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until September 9, 2017.
Aug 25 2017	Application (17A159) to extend further the time from September 9, 2017 to September 25, 2017, submitted to The Chief Justice.
Aug 29 2017	Application (17A159) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until September 19, 2017. No further extensions will be granted.
Sep 19 2017	Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due October 19, 2017)
Oct 05 2017	Order extending time to file response to petition to and including November 20, 2017.
Nov 20 2017	Brief of respondent Dale Steager, WV State Tax Comm'r in opposition filed.
Dec 05 2017	Reply of petitioner James Dawson filed.
Dec 06 2017	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/5/2018.
Jan 08 2018	The Solicitor General is invited to file a brief in this case expressing the views of the United States.
May 15 2018	Brief amicus curiae of United States filed.
May 29 2018	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/14/2018.
May 29 2018	Supplemental brief of respondent Dale Steager, WV State Tax Commissioner filed. (Distributed)
Jun 18 2018	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/21/2018.
Jun 25 2018	Petition GRANTED limited to the question presented by the Solicitor General in his brief for the United States as amicus curiae.
Jul 17 2018	Letter re Briefing Schedule of James Dawson not accepted for filing. (Corrected letter to be submitted - July 23, 2018)
Jul 24 2018	Motion for an extension of time to file the opening briefs on the merits filed.
Jul 27 2018	Motion for an extension of time to file the opening briefs on the merits granted. The time to file the joint appendix and petitioners' brief on the merits is extended to and including August 28, 2018. The time to file respondent's brief on the merits is extended to and including October 16, 2018.
Aug 28 2018	Brief of petitioner James Dawson filed.
Aug 28 2018	Joint appendix filed. (Statement of costs filed)
Aug 29 2018	Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, James Dawson
Aug 31 2018	Blanket Consent filed by Respondent, Dale Steager, WV State Tax Commissioner
Sep 04 2018	Brief amicus curiae of United States filed.
Sep 04 2018	Brief amicus curiae of NARFE filed.
Sep 27 2018	Motion of the Acting Solicitor General for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument filed.
Oct 09 2018	SET FOR ARGUMENT ON Monday, December 3, 2018
Oct 09 2018	Motion of the Acting Solicitor General for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument GRANTED. Justice Kavanaugh took no part in the consideration or decision of this motion.
Oct 15 2018	Record requested from the Supreme Court of West Virginia.
Oct 16 2018	Brief of respondent Dale Steager, WV State Tax Commissioner filed.
Oct 19 2018	CIRCULATED
Nov 06 2018	Record received from the Supreme Court of West Virginia is complete. (1 Box)
Nov 15 2018	Reply of petitioner James Dawson filed. (Distributed)
Dec 03 2018	Argued. For petitioners: Lawrence D. Rosenberg, Washington, D. C.; and Michael R. Huston, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. (for United States, as amicus curiae.) For respondent: Lindsay S. See, West Virginia Solicitor General, Charleston, W. Va.
Feb 20 2019	Judgment REVERSED and case REMANDED. Gorsuch, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.
Mar 25 2019	MANDATE ISSUED.
Mar 25 2019	JUDGMENT ISSUED.

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The Supreme Court released orders from the April 18 conference on Monday; the justices agreed to decide Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, consolidated with Altitude Express Inc. v. Zarda, R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, CITGO Asphalt Refining Co. v. Frescati Shipping Co., Ltd., and Barton v. Barr. The justices also called for the views of the U.S. solicitor general in Putnam Investments, LLC v. Brotherston.
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On Monday, the justices heard oral argument in Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media and Fort Bend County, Texas v. Davis.
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  In case in which the plaintiffs allege that a Maryland congressional district was gerrymandered to retaliate against them for their political views: (1) whether the various legal claims articulated by the three-judge district court are unmanageable; (2) whether the three-judge district court erred when, in granting plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, it resolved disputes of material fact as to multiple elements of plaintiffs’ claims, failed to view the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, and treated as “undisputed” evidence that is the subject of still-unresolved hearsay and other evidentiary objections; and (3) whether the three-judge district court abused its discretion in entering an injunction despite the plaintiffs’ years-long delay in seeking injunctive relief, rendering the remedy applicable to at most one election before the next decennial census necessitates another redistricting.
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  (1) Whether a 93-year-old memorial to the fallen of World War I is unconstitutional merely because it is shaped like a cross; (2) whether the constitutionality of a passive display incorporating religious symbolism should be assessed under the tests articulated in Lemon v. Kurtzman, Van Orden v. Perry, Town of Greece v. Galloway or some other test; and (3) whether, if the test from Lemon v. Kurtzman applies, the expenditure of funds for the routine upkeep and maintenance of a cross-shaped war memorial, without more, amounts to an excessive entanglement with religion in violation of the First Amendment.
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Cases argued	70
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Dawson v. Steager

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