UTIER v. Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico

Consolidated with:

Docket No.	Op. Below	Argument	Opinion	Vote	Author	Term
18-1521	1st Cir.	Oct 15, 2019	Jun 1, 2020	9-0	Breyer	OT 2019

Holding: The Constitution's appointments clause does not restrict the appointment or selection of members of Puerto Rico"s Financial Oversight and Management Board, who are appointed by the president without the Senate"s advice and consent.

Judgment: Reversed and remanded, 9-0, in an opinion by Justice Breyer on June 1, 2020. Justices Thomas and Sotomayor filed opinions concurring in the judgment.

SCOTUSblog Coverage

Live blog of orders and opinions (Update: Completed) (Kalvis Golde, June 1, 2020)
Opinion analysis: After a long wait, a unanimous court upholds Puerto Rico oversight board (Amy Howe, June 1, 2020)
Argument analysis: Justices weigh appointments dispute - and nature of Puerto Rico oversight board (Amy Howe, October 15, 2019)
Argument preview: Justices to hear argument in appointments clause dispute arising from Puerto Rico debt crisis (Amy Howe, October 10, 2019)
Justices add Puerto Rico appointments clause case to next term's docket (Corrected) (Amy Howe, June 20, 2019)

Date	Proceedings and Orders (key to color coding)
06/05/2019	Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due July 8, 2019)
06/11/2019	Certificate of Service filed.
06/12/2019	Waiver of right of respondents Aurelius Investment, LLC, Aurelius Opportunities Fund, LLC, Lex Claims, LLC, Assured Guaranty Corp., and Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp. to respond filed.
06/17/2019	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/20/2019.
06/20/2019	Petition GRANTED. The petitions for writs of certiorari in Nos. 18-1334, 18-1475, 18-1496, 18-1514 and 18-1521 are granted. The cases are consolidated, and will be set for argument in the second week of the October 2019 argument session. Parties challenging the First Circuit’s ruling on the Appointments Clause issue shall file an opening brief on that issue on or before Thursday, July 25, 2019. The briefs are to bear a light blue cover and are limited to 15,000 words. Parties supporting the First Circuit’s ruling on the Appointments Clause issue and challenging the ruling on the de facto officer doctrine issue shall file a consolidated opening brief on or before Thursday, August 22, 2019. The briefs are to bear a light red cover and are limited to 20,000 words. Parties challenging the First Circuit’s ruling on the Appointments Clause issue and supporting the ruling on the de facto officer doctrine issue shall file a consolidated opening brief and reply on or before Thursday, September 19, 2019. The briefs are to bear a yellow cover and are limited to 13,000 words. Parties challenging the First Circuit’s ruling on the de facto officer doctrine issue shall file with the Clerk and serve upon counsel a reply brief limited to that issue on or before 2 p.m., Tuesday, October 8, 2019. The briefs are to bear a tan cover and are limited to 6,000 words. Amicus curiae briefs challenging the First Circuit’s ruling on the Appointments Clause issue and/or supporting the ruling on the de facto officer doctrine issue are to be filed on or before Thursday, August 1, 2019. The briefs are to bear a light green cover and are limited to 9,000 words. Amicus curiae briefs supporting the First Circuit’s ruling on the Appointments Clause issue and/or challenging the ruling on the de facto officer doctrine issue are to be filed on or before Thursday, August 29, 2019. The briefs are to bear a dark green cover and are limited to 9,000 words. An amicus curiae shall file only a single brief.
06/20/2019	Because the Court has consolidated these cases for briefing and oral argument, future filings and activity in the cases will now be reflected on the docket of No. 18-1334. Subsequent filings in these cases must therefore be submitted through the electronic filing system in No. 18-1334. Each document submitted in connection with one or more of these cases must include on its cover the case number and caption for each case in which the filing is intended to be submitted. Where a filing is submitted in fewer than all of the cases, the docket entry will reflect the case number(s) in which the fling is submitted; a document filed in all of the consolidated cases will be noted as “VIDED.”
07/01/2019	SET FOR ARGUMENT on Tuesday, October 15, 2019. VIDED
08/01/2019	CIRCULATED
08/16/2019	Record requested from the U.S.C.A. 1st Circuit.
08/26/2019	The record from the U.S.C.A. 1st Circuit is located on PACER, with the exception of the appendix located electronically.
08/29/2019	Record received from the U.S.D.C. District of Puerto Rico is electronic. All other non confidential filings are located on PACER.
10/15/2019	Argued. For Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico: Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., Washington, D. C. For United States: Jeffrey B. Wall, Principal Deputy Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. For Aurelius Investment, LLC, et al.: Theodore B. Olson, Washington, D. C. For UTIER: Jessica E. Méndez-Colberg, Ponce, P. R. VIDED.
06/01/2020	Judgment REVERSED and case REMANDED. Breyer, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Ginsburg, Alito, Kagan, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh, JJ., joined. Thomas, J., and Sotomayor, J., filed opinions concurring in the judgment. VIDED.
07/06/2020	JUDGMENT ISSUED.