Whether law enforcement may conduct warrantless, forcible home searches of Social Security disability applicants without violating their Fourth Amendment rights and constitutional due process protections

No question identified. : TO: To the Honorable Elena Kagan, as Circuit Justice for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: In accordance with this Court’s Rules 13.5, 22, 30.2, and 30.3, Applicant Anh Thai respectfully requests that the time to file her petition for a writ of certiorari be extended for 60 days, up to and including August 21, 2025. The Court of Appeals issued its opinion on February 12, 2025 (Exhibit B) and denied rehearing en banc on March 21, 2025 (Exhibit A). Absent an extension of time, the petition would be due on June 21, 2025. This application is filed on April 30, 2025 more than 10 days before the petition is due. See S. Ct. R. 13.5. The jurisdiction of this Court is based on 28 U.S.C. 1254(1). The defendants opposed this request. Background In support of this request, the applicant submits that there is good cause for granting the request and states as follows: 1This case presents several important questions affecting not only Petitioner Thai but the hundreds of thousands of Social Security disability applicants throughout the nation. One of the questions is whether claimants applying for disability benefits or supplemental security income under the Social -| Security Act (42 U.S.C. § 421(k)(1)) can be subjected to forcible criminal searches by local law enforcement and/or can be deprived of their Fourth Amendment and Fourteenth and Fifth Amendment Due Process rights, as well as their rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act (RA). 2Beginning in 2011, Defendant County of Los Angeles has been investigating Social Security disability benefits applicants for fraud using criminal police investigators of the District Attorney’s Los Angeles office Cooperative Disability Investigations Unit '(“CDIU”). Due to severe depression, fibromyalgia and post-traumatic stress disorder in 2013 Plaintiff Anh Thai applied for Supplemental Security Income ("SSI") disability benefits . Her applications for social security benefits on the basis of disability were first reviewed by an employee of the California state agency Disability Determination Services Division (““DDSD”) working under contract with the Social Security Administration (“SSA”). 220 C.F.R. §§ 404.1503(a)-(b), 416.903(a)-(b). ‘Cooperative Disability Investigations Unit ("CDIU"), a joint task force between County local police investigators and SSA personnel that investigates potential social security fraud. Whalen v. McMullen, 907 F.3d 1139, 1143 (9" Cir. 2018). 2 3In connection with her application for disability benefits, Anh Thai became a lead plaintiff in a class action against SSA in district court alleging SSA’s violation of due process and of the Social Security Act in connection with the class’ application for disability benefits. In retaliation, County Defendants launched a criminal investigation of Thai by forcibly seizing and searching Thai with armed police at her home, including searches of her bedrooms and kitchen, to find evidence of fraud. County defendants barged into Thai’s home by exposing their state-issued guns and badges and threatened her with jail time if she refused to answer their questions. For example, the defendant officers asked Thai whether she was babysitting relatives or had work equipment in her home such as sewing machines or construction machinery, and whether her medicine bottles were consumed and emptied; in short, defendants were searching for evidence of fraud and were endeavoring to determine whether Thai appeared to have any visible disability or instead looked “normal”. Thai, who is a former Vietnamese refugee who was already mentally ill due to her major depressive disorder and PTSD, was further traumatized and harmed by the searches and rendered schizophrenic and epileptic with seizures, foaming at the mouth and had to be hospitalized for extensive periods at near death after being searched. Thai became suicidal and went into hiding out of pain, fear, depressi