No. 25-6429

Georgiy Chipunov v. United States

Lower Court: Ninth Circuit
Docketed: 2025-12-23
Status: Pending
Type: IFP
Response RequestedResponse WaivedIFP
Tags: as-applied-challenge criminal-procedure facial-challenge first-amendment ninth-circuit true-threats
Key Terms:
FirstAmendment JusticiabilityDoctri
Latest Conference: 2026-02-20
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Must a criminal defendant bring a facial challenge to a statute under the First Amendment's true-threat doctrine?

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

In Counterman v. Colorado , 600 U.S. 66, 73 (2023), the Court clarified that, to comply with the First Amendment’s protec tions, prosecutors “mu st prove in truethreats cases that the defendant had some understanding of his statements’ threatening character.” Since then, almost all courts have rejected defendants’ facial overbreadth challenges based on Counterman ’s true-threat doctrine, instead considering as-applied challenges to specific prosecutions and specific threats. The Ninth Circuit has, alone, taken the opposi te tack. It has continued to reject asapplied challenges, instead requiring defend ants to bring facial challenges under Counterman . The question presented is: To state a claim under the First Amendment’s true-threat doctrine, must a criminal defendant bring a facial challenge to the statute with which he is charged? prefix PARTIES ,

Docket Entries

2026-01-22
Response Requested. (Due February 23, 2026)
2026-01-15
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/20/2026.
2026-01-12
Waiver of right of respondent United States to respond filed.
2025-12-15
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due January 22, 2026)

Attorneys

Georgiy Chipunov
Jessica AgatsteinFederal Defenders of San Diego, Inc., Petitioner
Jessica AgatsteinFederal Defenders of San Diego, Inc., Petitioner
Jessica AgatsteinFederal Defenders of San Diego, Inc., Petitioner
United States
D. John SauerSolicitor General, Respondent
D. John SauerSolicitor General, Respondent
D. John SauerSolicitor General, Respondent