Inside the Supreme Court

Petition to Decision

Papers of Supreme Court Justices on Civil Rights Cases

David Achtenberg

Professor & Law Foundation Scholar

UMKC School of Law

Kansas City, MO 64110-2499

816-235-2382

AchtenbergD@umkc.edu

McDonald v. City of West Branch

Timeline

          Coverage:  This page is a chronological timeline of the Court’s internal discussion and handling of McDonald from the petitioner's earliest filings through the announcement of the decision in the case.  The timeline is divided into four sections which can be accessed through the buttons above or the ones in the yellow navigation area.

         Accessing Documents:  Each event is linked to all the documents in the Blackmun, Brennan, Marshall, Powell , and White files (as well as some documents from additional sources) that relate to that event.  To access a document, click on its link.  In the illustration below, you would click the link indicated by the red arrow to access the copy of Justice Powell's Opinion log that was found in his files.  (The links do not work on this illustration which is not from the McDonald files.  To experiment, go to the timeline itself.) 

          Duplicate Documents:  When more than one copy of a document was found, I have included and linked all copies.  When a particular justice’s copy of a document contains additional annotations or markings, the link to that copy ends with an asterisk.   In the illustration above, the asterisks at the end of the circled entries indicate that both Justice Marshall and Justice Powell (or their clerks) made notes on their respective copies of the first draft of Justice Brennan's majority opinion.

          Abbreviations:  I have abbreviated the names of the justices, their clerks, and a few other persons.  A key to all abbreviations can be accessed by clicking the abbreviations button in the yellow navigation area. 

          Dates:  If the date of an event is unclear, estimated or derived, the date is underlined and the date is linked to an explanation. 

          Higher Resolution Copies:  Most of the documents are presented in comparatively small pdf files which should be adequate for most uses.  Please let me know if you think that any particular image needs to be replaced with a higher resolution version.  I will also be happy to send higher resolution copies (or original JPEGs) of any images to anyone who needs them.  For further information about how the documents were photographed, edited and converted to pdf files, click here to go to the Image Creation and Conversion Protocol Page. 

          Sources and Citation:  For an explanation of how to determine the original archive location of any document, click here to go to the Document Source Page.

	McDonald Timeline—Part 1
	Deciding to Grant Review: First Filings to Grant of Certiorari (08/11/83 - 10/03/83)
			Documents
	Event	Date	HAB	WJB	TM	LFP	BRW	Other
	Petition for Certiorari filed.	08/11/83						Docket Petition
	Brief in Opposition filed.	09/06/83						Docket BIO
	Petition and Brief in Opposition distributed to chambers for consideration at the September 26, 1983 certiorari conference.	09/07/83						Docket
	RGT (SDO Clerk) circulates memo to pool recommending that certiorari be granted and raises the possibility of summary reversal without argument.	09/09/83	Memo RGT to Pool*			Memo RGT to Pool*
	DAC (LFP Clerk) writes memo to LFP recommending denial.  If grant looks possible, he recommends CFR (calling for the record below before deciding whether to grant).	09/10/83				Memo DAC to LFP
	LFP annotates RGT memo indicating he will vote to deny.	09/11/83				Memo RGT to Pool*
	RAB (HAB Clerk) annotates RGT memo recommending summary reversal.  ("Given the overwhelming support going against the CA6 decision, it seems that argument may not be worthwhile.")	09/18/83	Memo RGT to Pool*
	Case is discussed in conference.  WJB, BRW, TM, WHR, and SDO vote to grant.  LFP, and JPS vote to deny.  WEB either votes to deny (per LFP and HAB dockets) or possibly passes (per WJB docket).  HAB votes to join 3.  Certiorari is granted.	09/26/83	HAB Docket	WJB Docket		LFP Docket
	Order issued granting certiorari.	10/03/83						Docket
	McDonald Timeline—Part 2
	Briefing, Argument & Decision on the Merits (10/04/83 - 02/29/84)
			Documents
	Event	Date	HAB	WJB	TM	LFP	BRW	Other
	Joint Appendix filed.	11/14/83						Docket Appendix
	Court extends time for filing of Petitioner's merits brief until November 21, 1983.	11/15/83						Docket
	Petitioner files brief on the merits.	11/21/83						Docket Petitioner Brief
	Amicus AFL-CIO et al file amicus brief supporting petitioner	11/21/83						Docket Amicus AFL-CIO
	Amicus Mandel Legal Aid Clinic files amicus brief supporting petitioner	11/23/83						Docket Amicus Mandel
	Record filed	11/23/83						Docket
	Respondents file brief on the merits	12/21/83						Docket Respondents Brief
	Amicus Equal Employment Advisory Council files amicus brief supporting respondents	12/21/83						Docket Amicus EEAC
	Court sets case for argument on February 27, 1984.	01/09/84						Docket
	Briefs etc. are circulated to chambers	01/11/84						Docket
	Petitioner files reply brief on the merits	02/14/84						Docket Reply Brief
	SRM (HAB Clerk) sends memo to HAB recommending reversal.	02/23/84	Memo SRM to HAB
	SRM submits proposed oral argument questions to HAB	02/23/84	HAB Oral Argument Questions
	JEN (LFP clerk) sends memo to LFP recommending reversal.	02/24/84				Memo JEN to LFP
	LFP reviews and annotates JEN memo tentatively concluding that he should reverse based on previous case law.  He expresses doubt that the result makes sense as a matter of policy and general hostility toward § 1983.  ("But the problem is § 1983 that has been expanded to be the single most burdensome federal statute in terms of encouraging litigation - most of it frivolous.")	02/25/84				Memo JEN to LFP
	HAB prepares pre-argument notes indicating that he intends to reverse and setting forth his reasoning.  [transcript]	02/26/84	HAB Pre-Argument Notes
	Case argued.	02/27/84	HAB Argument Notes [Transcript of Notes]			LFP Argument Notes [Transcript of Notes]		Docket Oral Argument Audio with Transcript Official Oral Argument Transcript
	KRB (BRW Clerk) sends memo to BRW recommending reversal.	02/27/84					Memo KRB to BRW
	WJB prepares notes for conference	02/28/84		WJB Notes for Conference
	LFP prepares dictates notes expressing the position he will take at the conference.	02/29/84				LFP Notes for Conference
	Case is discussed in conference.  WEB apparently initially votes to affirm.  The other justices vote to reverse.  WEB switches to affirm making it unanimous.	2/29/84	HAB Conference Notes Transcript of Notes HAB Docket	WJB Conference Notes Transcript of Notes WJB Docket		LFP Conference Notes Transcript of Notes
	McDonald Timeline—Part 3
	Drafting the Opinions: From First Drafts to Final Opinions (03/03/84 - 04/18/84)
			Documents
	Event	Date	HAB	WJB	TM	LFP	BRW	Other
	Majority opinion assigned to WJB.	03/03/84	HAB Circulation Record HAB Docket	WJB Circulation Record		LFP Circulation Record
	WJB circulates 1st draft of opinion.	03/29/84	WJB 1st Draft	WJB 1st Draft	WJB 1st Draft*	WJB 1st Draft*	WJB 1st Draft*
	JPS sends WJB memo stating he will join the opinion.	03/29/84	Memo JPS to WJB	Memo JPS to WJB	Memo JPS to WJB	Memo JPS to WJB	Memo JPS to WJB
	LFP annotates WJB's draft stating he will join the opinion and sends WJB memo to that effect.	03/29/84	Memo LFP to WJB	Memo LFP to WJB	Memo LFP to WJB	WJB 1st Draft* Memo LFP to WJB*	Memo LFP to WJB
	SDO sends WJB memo stating he will join the opinion.	03/29/84	Memo SDO to WJB	Memo SDO to WJB	Memo SDO to WJB	Memo SDO to WJB	Memo SDO to WJB
	WHR sends WJB memo stating he will join the opinion.	03/29/84	Memo WHR to WJB	Memo WHR to WJB	Memo WHR to WJB	Memo WHR to WJB
	SRM (HAB Clerk) sends HAB recommending that HAB join WJB's opinion.	03/29/84	Memo SRM to HAB
	HAB sends WJB memo stating he will join the opinion.	03/30/84	Memo HAB to WJB	Memo HAB to WJB	Memo HAB to WJB	Memo HAB to WJB	Memo HAB to WJB
	BRW annotates WJB's draft stating he will join the opinion and sends WJB memo to that effect.	03/30/84	Memo BRW to WJB	Memo BRW to WJB	Memo BRW to WJB		WJB 1st Draft* Memo BRW to WJB
	TM annotates WJB's draft stating he will join the opinion and sends WJB memo to that effect.	03/30/84	Memo TM to WJB	Memo TM to WJB	WJB 1st Draft* Memo TM to WJB	Memo TM to WJB	Memo TM to WJB
	WEB sends WJB memo stating he will join the opinion.	03/30/84	Memo WEB to WJB	Memo WEB to WJB	Memo WEB to WJB	Memo WEB to WJB	Memo WEB to WJB
	HCL sends draft syllabus to WJB.	04/03/84		Syllabus Draft 1
	WJB annotates draft syllabus, possibly for use in opinion announcement.	04/04/84		Syllabus Draft 1
	HCL sends draft syllabus to WJB with vote lineup added.	04/16/84		Syllabus Draft 2
	WJB delivers the opinion for unanimous court.	04/18/84						Docket
	McDonald Timeline—Part 4
	After the Decision: Post-Decision Events  (04/19/84 - 5/21/84)
			Documents
	Event	Date	HAB	WJB	TM	LFP	BRW	Other
	Judgment issued	05/21/84						Docket