March 30, 2026: Updated Relist Analysis

My last post was made 24 days ago, on March 6, a day when the Court had a conference. As I noted, the most-relisted pending petition at the time was then Smith v. Scott, No. 24-1099, which had been relisted for the 14th time on March 2. As of today, March 30, this petition is still pending and still the most-relisted pending petition, having been relisted for the 17th time today. This means the Court will consider it again at its conference this Thursday, April 2. (Why is this conference not happening this Friday, when conferences usually happen, since there is no federal holiday on Friday? Your guess is as good as mine.)

In my last post, I also noted that the second most-relisted pending petition was Reed v. Goertz, No. 24-1268. As I noted, it was relisted for the 13th time on March 2. Since then, it was relisted just one more time on March 16, before being denied on March 23, after a grand total of 14 relists. As expected given how long the delay was in this denial, three justices (the liberals, Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson) dissented from denial, with Sotomayor writing a dissent the two other liberals joined.

I also noted that it was a four-way tie for third-most-relisted pending petition. One of those four petitions has since been granted: Zorn v. Linton, No. 25-297, was granted on March 23 after 9 total relists. The Court summarily reversed the Second Circuit's decision, which had denied qualified immunity to Vermont police officer Jacob Zorn for using a rear wristlock on a nonviolent protester participating in a sit-in protest in the Vermont State House in Montpelier. In an unsigned per curiam opinion, the Court held that Zorn was, in fact, entitled to qualified immunity, because it was not clearly established that what he did was illegal. Sotomayor dissented, joined by Kagan and Jackson, arguing that it was, in fact, clearly established that Zorn used excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment. She also rehashed her previous criticisms of the Court's majority for frequently reversing lower courts that deny qualified immunity for police officers, while seemingly never reversing courts that grant it.

What this means is Smith v. Scott is still the most-relisted pending petition. But second place is now a three-way tie between Foote v. Ludlow School Committee, No. 25-77, Duncan v. Bonta, No. 25-198, Gator's Custom Guns v. Washington, No. 25-153. Each of these was relisted for the 11th time today. I discussed all three of these in my March 6 post, when they were tied for third place. 

In third place is Viramontes v. Cook County, Illinois, which was relisted for the 10th time today. This is a case about whether the Second Amendment protects a right to own AR-15s. Recall that the Court punted on an opportunity to grant cert in a similar petition near the end of last term in Snope v. Brown, with the three most conservative justices all saying they wanted to hear that case. That one was relisted 15 times before finally being denied--who knows, perhaps this one awaits a similar fate.