No. 21-658

Rodolfo Canales, Jr. v. Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas, et al.

Lower Court: Texas
Docketed: 2021-11-03
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Response RequestedRelisted (2)
Tags: constitutional-standard criminal-law due-process facial-challenge felony-offense indefinite-financial-support statutory-interpretation texas-supreme-court vagueness vagueness-doctrine
Key Terms:
AdministrativeLaw DueProcess FirstAmendment Immigration
Latest Conference: 2022-04-22 (distributed 2 times)
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether a statute with no definitions, explicit standards, reasonably clear guidelines, or objective criteria that allows a court to order indefinite financial support on an ad hoc and subjective basis and which the non-payment of the support is a felony offense, is unconstitutionally vague on its face only if it is vague in all its applications

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTION PRESENTED In Johnson v. United States, 135 S.Ct. 2551, 2561 (2015), a non-First Amendment case, this Court stated that the “supposed requirement of vagueness in all applications is not a requirement at all, but a tautology: If we hold a statute to be vague, it is vague in all its applications. . . .” The Court reaffirmed its position in Johnson in Sessions v. Dimaya, 138 S.Ct. 1214 n.3 (2018), another non-First Amendment case. After Johnson and Dimaya, twelve federal circuit courts of appeals and the courts of last resort in twenty states and the District of Columbia are intractably split on what standard to apply in a facial vagueness challenge because this Court “did not precisely define what standard governs facial vagueness challenges.” Robinson v. Government of the District of Columbia, 234 FSupp.3d 14, 19 (D.D.C. 2017). Contrary to Johnson and Dimaya, the Texas Supreme Court and the Texas Court of Appeals, Third District, at Austin require a statute to be vague in all its applications. The question presented is as follows: Whether a statute with no definitions, explicit standards, reasonably clear guidelines, or objective criteria that allows a court to order indefinite financial support on an ad hoc and subjective basis and which the non-payment of the support is a felony offense, is unconstitutionally vague on its face only if it is vague in all its applications.

Docket Entries

2022-04-25
Petition DENIED.
2022-04-06
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/22/2022.
2022-03-29
Reply of petitioner Rodolfo Canales, Jr. filed.
2022-03-29
Waiver of the 14-day waiting period for distribution of the petition for a writ of certiorari pursuant to Rule 15.5 filed.
2022-03-21
Brief of respondents Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas, et al. in opposition filed.
2022-02-07
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including March 21, 2022.
2022-02-04
Motion to extend the time to file a response from February 18, 2022 to March 21, 2022, submitted to The Clerk.
2021-12-29
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including February 18, 2022.
2021-12-28
Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 19, 2022 to February 18, 2022, submitted to The Clerk.
2021-12-20
Response Requested. (Due January 19, 2022)
2021-12-15
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/7/2022.
2021-11-01
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 3, 2021)

Attorneys

Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas, et al.
Judd Edward Stone IITexas Attorney General's Office, Respondent
Judd Edward Stone IITexas Attorney General's Office, Respondent
Rodolfo Canales, Jr.
Ramiro CanalesCanales PLLC, Petitioner
Ramiro CanalesCanales PLLC, Petitioner