subjective-intent

26 cases — ← All topics

Case Title Lower Court Docketed Status Flags Tags Question Presented
25-651 Stanley Kappell Watson v. Shenekka Bradsher, et al. Eleventh Circuit 2025-12-04 Pending Response Requested bankruptcy-code debt-discharge intentional-tort legal-injury subjective-intent willful-injury The Bankruptcy Code excepts from discharge any debt "for willful and malicious injury by the debtor to another entity or to the property of another …
25-295 WG/Welch Mechanical Contractors, LLC v. International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail & Transportation Workers, Local Union 100 - Sheet Metal Division, et al. Fourth Circuit 2025-09-15 Denied Response Waived civil-procedure defamation first-amendment malicious-speech pleading-standard subjective-intent Whether a plaintiff in a malicious defamation claim must plead facts revealing a defendant's subjective state of mind or if a plausible allegation of …
25-5345 Arturo Navarro-Zuniga v. United States Ninth Circuit 2025-08-13 Denied Response WaivedIFP confession-admissibility criminal-procedure law-review miranda-warning objective-effectiveness subjective-intent When determining whether a confession made following a midstream Miranda warning is admissible, do courts consider the warning's objective effectivene…
25-5117 George P. Naum, III v. United States Fourth Circuit 2025-07-15 Denied Response WaivedIFP controlled-substances jury-instructions medical-purpose mens-rea plain-error subjective-intent Whether the Fourth Circuit unconstitutionally applied the plain error standard to affirm a physician's conviction where jury instructions misstated th…
24-1274 R. Michael Cestaro v. Clarissa M. Rodriguez, Individually and in Her Official Capacity as Chair of the New York State Workers' Compensation Board, et al. Second Circuit 2025-06-13 Denied Response Waived first-amendment mt-healthy public-employee retaliation section-1983 subjective-intent Whether a public employee's First Amendment retaliation claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 requires proof of subjective intent and distinct 'other conduct' …
24-353 Elelake James Jefferson, Jr. v. Pennsylvania Pennsylvania 2024-09-30 Denied consent-doctrine fourth-amendment schneckloth-standard subjective-intent totality-of-circumstances warrantless-search Whether a court should consider a defendant's subjective intent when assessing consent to a warrantless search under the totality of the circumstances…
23-7668 Roylee Richardson v. United States Eighth Circuit 2024-06-07 Denied IFP arthur-andersen-llp-v-united-states criminal-law federal-criminal-procedure federal-statute foreseeability official-proceeding statutory-interpretation subjective-intent witness-tampering Whether the federal witness tampering statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1512, requires proof that the defendant subjectively contemplated a federal official procee…
23-7480 Sanjay Kumar v. United States Fourth Circuit 2024-05-14 Denied Response WaivedIFP cheek-v-united-states criminal-defense criminal-procedure due-process good-faith-belief jury-instructions subjective-intent tax tax-crime willfulness whether-jury-instructions-on-willfulness-element-disregarded-defendant's-subjective-intent
23-7473 Cody Ray Leveke, aka Cody Meyer, aka Cody Ray Meyers v. United States Eighth Circuit 2024-05-14 Denied Response WaivedIFP criminal-intent criminal-law due-process first-amendment free-speech jury-instructions subjective-intent supreme-court supreme-court-precedent threat-standard Whether jury instructions based on Elonis v. United States (2015) sufficiently encompass the requirement of 'subjective intent to threaten,' as articu…
22-1211 Uvaldo Guzman v. Skinner C. Sturgis, et al. Fifth Circuit 2023-06-14 Denied Response Waived causation causation-element civil-rights constitutional-rights deliberate-indifference due-process government-officials retaliation retaliation-claim subjective-intent taunts Whether government officials' statements of intent to continue violating an individual's constitutional rights can establish subjective intent for del…
22-6653 Jayson Montgomery v. United States Sixth Circuit 2023-01-27 Denied IFP anti-kickback-statute circuit-split controlled-substances-act criminal-law due-process healthcare-fraud intent ruan-v-united-states subjective-intent Does the government need to prove subjective intent for anti-kickback statute violations?
22-685 Jerry Wayne Wilkerson, et al. v. United States Sixth Circuit 2023-01-24 Denied anti-kickback-statute commission-payment controlled-substances-act healthcare-fraud objective-intent-standard pharmacy-benefit prescription-marketing sixth-circuit subjective-intent Must the government establish subjective intent to engage in unlawful conduct in order to convict a defendant of healthcare fraud and violation of the…
22-5621 Cody Ray Leveke, aka Cody Meyer, aka Cody Ray Meyers v. United States Eighth Circuit 2022-09-20 Denied Response WaivedIFP constitutional-law criminal-communication criminal-law first-amendment free-speech jury-instruction statutory-interpretation subjective-intent true-threat Whether a true threat requires the specific intent to threaten violence
22-138 Billy Raymond Counterman v. Colorado Colorado 2022-08-11 Judgment Issued Amici (20)Relisted (5) first-amendment free-speech objective-standard reasonable-person speech-protection subjective-intent true-threats Whether the government must show subjective intent or objective 'reasonable person' standard to establish 'true threat' unprotected by First Amendment
22-80 Frank Napolitano, et al. v. Laurence Washington Second Circuit 2022-07-27 Denied Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) circuit-split credibility criminal-investigation law-enforcement probable-cause qualified-immunity subjective-intent warrant-application Whether the investigating officers are entitled to qualified immunity
21-5086 Frank Craig Purpera, Jr. v. United States Fourth Circuit 2021-07-13 Denied Response WaivedIFP criminal-intent criminal-law good-faith jury-instructions lawful-practice medical-malpractice medical-practice professional-ethics professional-standard subjective-intent subjective-standard Whether a physician alleged to have acted outside the 'lawful course of professional practice' is entitled to a good faith instruction defining good f…
20-1745 Richard Sylvester v. United States First Circuit 2021-06-16 Denied 4th-amendment burden-of-proof community-caretaking fourth-amendment investigatory-motive law-enforcement-procedure police-policy probable-cause subjective-intent totality-of-circumstances vehicle-impound vehicle-impoundment whether-vehicle-impound-complies-with-4th-amendment
20-457 MarketGraphics Research Group, Inc. v. David Peter Berge Sixth Circuit 2020-10-08 Denied Amici (1) bankruptcy bankruptcy-discharge circuit-split debtor-liability discharge intent-standard objective-certainty statutory-interpretation subjective-intent willful-and-malicious-injury willful-injury Whether the 'willful and malicious injury' exception applies only where a debtor has a subjective intent to injure or may also be satisfied by conduct…
19-6761 Younes Kabbaj v. United States Third Circuit 2019-11-26 Denied Response WaivedIFP 18-usc-115 18-usc-875 apprendi-v-new-jersey constitutional-vagueness crime-of-violence elonis-v-united-states first-amendment first-amendment-free-speech sixth-amendment statutory-interpretation subjective-intent true-threat true-threats Whether a conviction for issuing a 'true threat' requires proof of defendant's subjective intent to threaten injury upon the person (physical body) of…
19-428 Ryan Courtade v. United States Fourth Circuit 2019-10-01 Denied 18-usc-2252 18-usc-2256 appellate-review child-pornography child-pornography-statute circuit-split due-process lascivious-exhibition standard-of-review statutory-interpretation subjective-intent When reviewing a district court's conclusion that an image depicts a 'lascivious exhibition' under 18 U.S.C. 2256(2)(A), must the appellate court revi…
18-1549 Zimmer, Inc., et al. v. Stryker Corporation, et al. Federal Circuit 2019-06-18 Denied enhanced-damages federal-circuit halo-v-pulse objective-recklessness patent-damages patent-law seagate-test subjective-intent willful-infringement willfulness Whether enhanced patent damages can be awarded without regard to whether there was an objectively high risk of infringement based on a finding of negl…
18-1059 Bridget Anne Kelly v. United States Third Circuit 2019-02-13 Judgment Issued Amici (4)Relisted (3) decision-making due-process fraud government government-fraud government-property legal-interpretation official-decision policy-reason property public-official public-policy subjective-intent Whether a public official 'defrauds' the government by advancing a 'public policy reason' for an official decision that is not her subjective 'real re…
18-1001 Casey Brandon Sibley v. Arizona Arizona 2019-02-01 Denied Response Waived constitutional-law criminal-prosecution first-amendment free-speech overbreadth-vagueness strict-scrutiny subjective-intent true-threat Whether the First Amendment requires proof of a speaker's subjective wrongful intent in order for speech to be deemed a 'true threat' subject to crimi…
18-949 Jamal Knox v. Pennsylvania Pennsylvania 2019-01-22 Denied Amici (8)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) criminal-threat first-amendment free-speech reasonable-person speech-protection subjective-intent terroristic-threats true-threat true-threats Whether a 'reasonable person' standard or a 'subjective intent' standard should apply to determine if a statement is a 'true threat' unprotected by th…
18-7512 Ronald Jackson v. Illinois Illinois 2019-01-22 Denied Response WaivedIFP civil-rights compulsory-process confrontation-clause constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process evidentiary-ruling ineffective-assistance-of-counsel prosecutorial-misconduct right-to-a-fair-trial right-to-fair-trial sixth-amendment state-court subjective-intent Whether counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to adequately investigate and present exculpatory evidence
18-476 Cowlitz County, Washington, et al. v. Jule Crowell, et al. Ninth Circuit 2018-10-15 Denied Response WaivedRelisted (2) 14th-amendment 42-usc-1983 8th-amendment civil-rights deliberate-indifference due-process fourteenth-amendment medical-care monell monell-doctrine municipal-liability objective-reasonableness section-1983 serious-medical-needs subjective-intent Whether a pretrial detainee alleging Fourteenth Amendment claims of deliberate indifference to serious medical needs must show subjective intent or ob…