minor-protection
32 cases — ← All topics
| Case | Title | Lower Court | Docketed | Status | Flags | Tags | Question Presented |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25-383 | Mark Van Epern v. United States | Fourth Circuit | 2025-10-01 | Denied | Response Waived | child-pornography criminal-law federal-statute minor-protection sexual-exploitation statutory-interpretation | (1) Whether a defendant "uses" a minor to engage in "sexually explicit conduct" under 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a) by surreptitiously recording the minor nude … |
| 25-5577 | Brandon Grunwaldt v. United States | Fourth Circuit | 2025-09-08 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | circuit-split criminal-statute federal-criminal-law minor-protection statutory-interpretation video-evidence | Does a video of a minor in a bathroom engaged in ordinary grooming activities depict "the lascivious exhibition of the anus, genitals, or pubic area" … |
| 25-5377 | Vincent Deritis v. United States | Fourth Circuit | 2025-08-15 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | child-exploitation criminal-law minor-protection sexually-explicit-conduct video-voyeurism visual-depiction | Does a video voyeur produce visual depictions of a minor engaged in "sexually explicit conduct" when he records images showing the minor engaged in on… |
| 24-1203 | Bernhard Jakits v. United States | Sixth Circuit | 2025-05-27 | Denied | Response Waived | criminal-law federal-criminal-statute jury-instructions minor-protection sexual-exploitation statutory-interpretation | 1. Whether the district court's instructions to the jury regarding the statutory terms "sexually explicit conduct" and "lascivious exhibition" were … |
| 24-1202 | John Doe v. Grindr Inc., et al. | Ninth Circuit | 2025-05-23 | Denied | Amici (3)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (3) | algorithmic-recommendation communications-decency-act minor-protection platform-liability product-design section-230 | 1. Does Section 230(c)(1) of the Communications Decency Act immunize apps from liability for their own conduct in marketing and designing defective pr… |
| 24-7115 | Elroy Wilkerson v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2025-05-01 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | child-pornography criminal-law minor-protection sexually-explicit-conduct statutory-interpretation visual-depiction | Does a voyeur produce or possess visual depictions of a minor engaged in "sexually explicit conduct" when the images recorded the minor engaged in onl… |
| 24-6128 | Jonathan High v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2024-12-12 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | circuit-split criminal-statute minor-protection sexually-explicit-conduct statutory-interpretation video-evidence | Whether the Court should resolve the following question for which there is a clear circuit split: can a defendant be convicted pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §… |
| 24-6000 | Rafael Antonio Bracero-Navas v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2024-11-19 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | child-pornography circuit-split federal-criminal-law lascivious-exhibition minor-protection statutory-interpretation | Does a defendant produce a depiction of a minor engaging in "lascivious exhibition," and thus "sexually explicit conduct" under 18 U.S.C. 2251(a), by … |
| 24-380 | Matthew McCoy v. United States | Eighth Circuit | 2024-10-03 | Denied | Response Waived | child-pornography criminal-intent federal-statute minor-protection sexual-exploitation video-recording | Does a defendant produce videos depicting a minor engaged in "lascivious exhibition," and thus "sexually explicit conduct" under 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a), … |
| 23-7796 | Stewart Bitman v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2024-06-25 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | 18-usc-2422(b) actual-innocence criminal-statute enticement ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel minor minor-protection plea-agreement sentencing-guidelines statutory-interpretation | 1. Whether the Petitioner is actually innocent of the counts of conviction whereas, although the Petitioner actually committed, the acts stipulated in… |
| 23-6934 | Calvin C. Freeman v. United States | Seventh Circuit | 2024-03-11 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | constitutional-vagueness criminal-law criminal-statute due-process minor-protection minors prosecutorial-discretion sex-trafficking statutory-interpretation vagueness | 1.) Whether Congress intended the Alternative sex trafficking of, children "OR®' by force, fraud, or coercion as Alternative Elements or Alternative M… |
| 23-803 | Shannon Donoho v. United States | Seventh Circuit | 2024-01-25 | Denied | Relisted (4) | child-pornography circuit-split due-process federal-criminal-statute lascivious-exhibition minor-protection secret-recording sexually-explicit-conduct visual-depiction | Does a defendant produce a depiction of a minor engaging in "lascivious exhibition," and thus "sexually explicit conduct" under 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a), b… |
| 23-625 | Tel James Boam v. United States | Ninth Circuit | 2023-12-11 | Denied | Amici (1) | child-pornography circuit-split criminal-statute due-process lascivious-exhibition minor-protection sexually-explicit-conduct statutory-interpretation visual-depiction | Does a defendant produce or possess a depiction involving the use of a minor engaging in "lascivious exhibition," and thus "sexually explicit conduct,… |
| 23-5939 | Brett Northington v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2023-11-02 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | categorical-approach chapter-reference circuit-split criminal-law legal-definition minor-protection minor-victim sexual-contact statutory-interpretation | Should the definition of "aggravated sexual contact involving a minor or ward?" be imported into Chapter 110 from Chapter 109A or should a generic mea… |
| 23-5649 | Jonathan Monson v. United States | First Circuit | 2023-09-26 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | 18-usc-2251 child-exploitation criminal-law criminal-statute due-process interstate-commerce jurisdictional-element minor-protection sexual-exploitation visual-depiction | Section 22 51(a) of Title 18 criminalizes the use o f a minor to engage in any sexually explicit conduc t "for the pu rpose o f producing an y visual … |
| 23-5581 | Matthew R. Osuba v. United States | Second Circuit | 2023-09-14 | Denied | IFP | child-pornography criminal-law federal-statute lower-court-split minor minor-protection production sexual-exploitation sexually-explicit-conduct statutory-interpretation visual-depiction | Section 2251(a) of Title 18 to the U.S. Code, known as the production of child pornography statute, makes it a crime punishable by at least fifteen ye… |
| 22-7237 | Eric Grzywinski v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2023-04-07 | Denied | Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2)IFP | age-of-consent circuit-split courts-of-appeals criminal-enhancement criminal-law esquivel-quintana-v-sessions minor-protection sexual-abuse sexual-offenses statutory-interpretation statutory-rape | Whether a statutory rape offense that criminalizes sexual activity solely on the basis of the ages of the parties requires a 16-year-old age of consen… |
| 22-7129 | Thomas P. Thayer v. United States | Seventh Circuit | 2023-03-28 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | categorical-approach criminal-conviction federal-law minor minor-protection prior-conviction registration-requirement sex-offender-registration sex-offense statutory-interpretation | This Court has held that, where Congress makes the application of federal law turn on a prior "conviction" that, "by its nature," "involves" certain "… |
| 22-7117 | Noel Macapagal v. United States | Ninth Circuit | 2023-03-27 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | adult-intermediary commerce-clause criminal-enticement enticement federal-crime interstate-commerce minor minor-protection state-authority statutory-interpretation | The government convicted petitioner-defendant Noel Macapagal of violating 18 U.S.C. §2422(b). As the government invoked it to convict Macapagal, this … |
| 22-6804 | Joseph Mark Williams, Jr. v. United States | Sixth Circuit | 2023-02-16 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | appeal-procedure appellate-procedure civil-procedure criminal-statute due-process legal-timeline minor-protection motion-to-withdraw standing statutory-interpretation supreme-court | 1. Whether the 90 days under 28 U.S.C. § 1254 and Supreme Court Rule 13 applies to an order granting a motion to withdraw an appeal . 2. Whether the… |
| 21-5789 | KT Burgee, aka Kape Teal Burgee v. United States | Eighth Circuit | 2021-09-27 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | categorical-approach criminal-classification federal-offense minor minor-protection residual-clause sex-offender-registration sex-offense sorna statutory-interpretation | It is a federal offense for a person who is required to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act to knowing… |
| 21-171 | Joel Zupnik v. United States | Eighth Circuit | 2021-08-05 | Denied | Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) | ' 'entice ' 'induce ' or 'coerce' in 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b) require more circuit-split criminal-law due-process federal-jurisdiction federal-state-balance federalism interstate-commerce mens-rea minor-protection sentencing sexual-offense statutory-interpretation | Title 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b) prohibits using a facility or means of interstate commerce to "persuad[e], induc[e], entic[e], or coerc[e]" a minor to engag… |
| 20-8440 | Jerry Douglas, Jr. v. United States | Fourth Circuit | 2021-06-28 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | criminal-procedure federal-question felon-in-possession felon-possession jury-instruction justification-defense minor-child-safety minor-protection second-amendment | Is a defendant entitled to a justification jury instruction on a charge of possession of ammunition in commerce by a felon when the defendant is actin… |
| 20-555 | Kyle Stephen Thompson v. United States | Fourth Circuit | 2020-10-27 | Denied | Response Waived | circuit-split criminal-intent criminal-law federal-statute mens-rea minor-protection minors purpose-element sexual-exploitation statutory-interpretation visual-depiction | Whether the "for the purpose of" element of § 2251(a) means the defendant's prevailing or most influential purpose for the sexually explicit conduct w… |
| 19-1084 | Dayton Michael Cramer v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2020-03-04 | Denied | 18-usc-2422 child-exploitation circuit-split criminal-law due-process intent-element intermediary-communication mens-rea minor-protection sexual-offense statutory-interpretation | Whether - pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b) - communications with an adult intermediary to persuade, induce, entice, or coerce a minor are punishable on… | |
| 19-6940 | Kevin James Petroske v. United States | Eighth Circuit | 2019-12-13 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | 18-usc-2251 8th-circuit child-pornography circuit-split criminal-intent due-process minor-protection production-of-child-pornography sexual-conduct sexually-explicit-conduct statutory-interpretation video-voyeurism | Whether mere video voyeurism – surreptitious videoing of unaware subjects without any posing or manipulation of the video images – of the innocent con… |
| 19-5225 | In Re Jonathan E. Brunson | 2019-07-17 | Denied | Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP | civil-rights confidential-records constitutional-review discovery due-process judicial-review minor-protection pennsylvania-v-ritchie records sexual-abuse social-services social-services-records standing | WHETHER PETITIONER WHO WAS CHARGED WITH SEXUAL ABUSE OF A MINOR, HAS A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO IN CAMERA JUDICIAL REVIEW OF CONFIDENTIAL SOCIAL SERVIC… | |
| 19-5198 | Robert Rang v. United States | First Circuit | 2019-07-17 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | attempted-coercion attempted-enticement criminal-law due-process enticement-of-a-minor federal-criminal-statute interpersonal-physical-contact mens-rea minor-protection minors sexual-activity sexual-offense sexual-offenses statutory-interpretation | Does a "substantial step" under 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b) [attempted coercion and enticement of a minor] require evidence of intended "interpersonal physica… |
| 18-6854 | Matthew Lane Durham v. United States | Tenth Circuit | 2018-11-28 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | commerce-clause congressional-power enumerated-powers extraterritorial-jurisdiction foreign-commerce-clause jurisdictional-limits minor-protection noncommercial-activity noneconomic-activity sexual-acts sexual-conduct statutory-interpretation | Did Congress exceed its enumerated powers under the Foreign Commerce Clause by punishing noncommercial, noneconomic sexual acts committed by a U.S. ci… |
| 18-5911 | Manuel Lampon-Paz v. Department of Justice, et al. | Third Circuit | 2018-09-10 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | case-redaction child-abuse child-abuse-neglect child-abuse-or-neglect court-of-appeals fair-trial federal-procedure minor-plaintiff minor-protection ongoing-case ongoing-federal-case plaintiff-rights redaction trial-fairness | 1) Whether a plaintiff can have his case redacted in accordance with laws and regulations about disclosure if; it contains information about a minor t… |
| 18-5637 | Afelix Desir v. Florida | Florida | 2018-08-17 | Denied | IFP | criminal-law criminal-statute due-process fundamental-error information-charging jury-instructions minor minor-protection sexual-activity sexual-offense | Does a trial court commit fundamental error when it instructs a jury regarding both "Penile/Vaginal intercourse" unlawful sexual activity with specifi… |
| 18-5164 | George Adrien Brooks v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2018-07-06 | Denied | IFP | 18-usc-2422(b) attempted-inducement circuit-split criminal-law criminal-statute federal-criminal-law intent intent-requirement mens-rea minor minor-protection minors sexual-abuse sexual-activity sexual-inducement statutory-interpretation | 18 U.S.C. § 2242(b) criminalizes, among other things, the attempted inducement of a minor to engage in sexual activity. The question presented by this… |