No. 24-853

Rory Douglas Wilson v. Idaho

Lower Court: Idaho
Docketed: 2025-02-11
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Amici (4)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) Experienced Counsel
Tags: civil-liberties constitutional-law first-amendment fourteenth-amendment free-speech municipal-ordinance
Latest Conference: 2025-05-15 (distributed 2 times)
Question Presented (from Petition)

Respondent Moscow, Idaho has an ordinance prohibiting "any notice, sign, announcement, or other advertising matter" in the public square without the property owner's permission. Signs and other messages—including political messages such as "F*** Trump," "Gegen Nazis," and "Pride" art—nonetheless blanket downtown Moscow. In keeping with these signs, petitioner Rory Wilson posted removable vinyl stickers critical of Moscow's response to the COVID-19 pandemic: the words "Soviet Moscow," a reference to the U.S.S.R.'s authoritarian government, juxtaposed against the public-health slogan Moscow adopted in connection with its restrictive COVID-19 policies: "Enforced Because We Care."

In response, Moscow enforced its ordinance for the first and only time in the ordinance's decade-plus history against Wilson. Moscow singled out Wilson because officials disagreed with his message; as the arresting officer told Wilson's father, "I don't agree with the messaging." And to add constitutional insult to constitutional injury, Wilson's sentence, if left to stand, requires him to write an essay explaining why he was wrong—that is, sentencing Wilson to compelled speech as punishment for disfavored speech. The question presented is:

Whether Moscow's ordinance or prosecution of Wilson violates the First or Fourteenth Amendments.

Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether Moscow's ordinance or prosecution of Wilson violates the First or Fourteenth Amendments

Docket Entries

2025-05-19
Petition DENIED.
2025-04-23
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/15/2025.
2025-04-18
2025-04-18
Reply of Rory Douglas Wilson submitted.
2025-04-09
Amicus brief of First Amendment Clinics at Duke, Cornell, and Southern Methodist Law Schools, Avi Adelman and William Oetjen submitted.
2025-04-09
2025-04-09
Brief amici curiae of First Amendment Clinic at Duke Law School, et al. filed.
2025-04-09
2025-04-09
Brief amici curiae of First Amendment Clinics at Duke, et al. filed.
2025-04-09
2025-04-09
Amicus brief of Thomas More Society submitted.
2025-04-09
2025-04-09
2025-03-10
Response Requested. (Due April 9, 2025)
2025-03-05
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/21/2025.
2025-02-26
Waiver of right of respondent Idaho to respond filed.
2025-02-05
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due March 13, 2025)
2024-12-06
Application (24A556) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until February 5, 2025.
2024-12-04
Application (24A556) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from January 6, 2025 to February 5, 2025, submitted to Justice Kagan.

Attorneys

First Amendment Clinics at Duke, Cornell, and Southern Methodist Law Schools, Avi Adelman and William Oetjen
Sarah Hutt LudingtonDuke First Amendment Clinic, Amicus
Idaho
Alan Michael HurstIdaho Office of the Attorney General, Respondent
Kenneth K. JorgensenOff of Attny Gen - State of ID, Respondent
Protect the First Foundation
Gene Clayton SchaerrSchaerr | Jaffe, Amicus
Rory Douglas Wilson
Judd Edward Stone IIStone | Hilton PLLC, Petitioner
Thomas More Society
Thomas L. BrejchaThomas More Society, Amicus