Murphy v. Smith

Docket No.	Op. Below	Argument	Opinion	Vote	Author	Term
16-1067	7th Cir.	Dec 6, 2017 Tr.Aud.	Feb 21, 2018	5-4	Gorsuch	OT 2017

Holding: In cases governed by 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(d), district courts must apply as much of a judgment in a federal civil rights suit as necessary, up to 25 percent, to satisfy an award of attorney’s fees.

Judgment: Affirmed, 5-4, in an opinion by Justice Gorsuch on February 21, 2018. Justice Sotomayor filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, and Kagan joined.

SCOTUSblog Coverage

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Argument analysis: What does it take to satisfy an award of attorney’s fees? (Charlotte Garden)
Argument preview: Who should pay attorneys who win on behalf of prisoners? (Charlotte Garden)
In Recess #4: "Stone Soup" (First Mondays)
Justices add prisoner fees case to merits docket (Amy Howe)
Petition of the day (Kate Howard)

Date	Proceedings and Orders (key to color coding)
Mar 02 2017	Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 5, 2017)
Mar 30 2017	Waiver of right of respondent Robert Smith, et al. to respond filed.
Apr 03 2017	Brief amici curiae of Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center, et al. filed.
Apr 12 2017	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of April 28, 2017.
Apr 12 2017	Response Requested. (Due May 12, 2017)
Apr 25 2017	Order extending time to file response to petition to and including June 12, 2017.
Jun 14 2017	Order further extending time to file response to petition to and including July 12, 2017.
Jul 12 2017	Brief of respondents Robert Smith, et al. in opposition filed.
Jul 18 2017	Reply of petitioner Charles Murphy filed.
Jul 26 2017	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of September 25, 2017.
Aug 25 2017	Petition GRANTED.
Sep 05 2017	Motion to dispense with printing the joint appendix filed by petitioner Charles Murphy.
Sep 29 2017	Brief of petitioner Charles Murphy filed.
Oct 06 2017	Brief amici curiae of American Civil Liberties, et al. filed.
Oct 06 2017	SET FOR ARGUMENT ON Wednesday, December 6, 2017
Oct 10 2017	Motion to dispense with printing the joint appendix filed by petitioner GRANTED.
Oct 20 2017	CIRCULATED
Oct 30 2017	Brief of respondents Robert Smith, et al. filed. (Distributed)
Nov 06 2017	Brief amici curiae of States of Michigan, et al. filed. (Distributed)
Nov 16 2017	Reply of petitioner Charles Murphy filed. (Distributed)
Dec 06 2017	Argued. For petitioner: Stuart Banner, Los Angeles, Cal. For respondents: Brett E. Legner, Deputy Solicitor General, Chicago, Ill.
Feb 21 2018	Adjudged to be AFFIRMED. Gorsuch, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito, JJ., joined. Sotomayor, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Ginsburg, Breyer, and Kagan, JJ., joined.
Mar 26 2018	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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  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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Murphy v. Smith

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Featured Posts

Argument analysis: ACCA argument becomes a broader discussion of statutory interpretation – Rory Little

Practice Pointer: Digging into DIGs – Kevin Russell

Opinion analysis: The meaning of consent to class arbitration – Charlotte Garden

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