Mckesson v. Doe

McKesson v. Doe
Supreme Court of the United States
Decided November 2, 2020
Full case name	DeRay McKesson v. John Doe
Docket no.	19-1108
Citations	592 U.S. 1 (more) 141 S.Ct. 48
Case history
Prior	dismissed for failure to state a claim, and motion to amend denied, 272 F.Supp.3d. 841 (M.D. La. 2017); dismissal reversed, 922 F.3d 604 (5th Cir. 2019); prior opinion withdrawn, new opinion substituted, 935 F.3d 253 (2019); prior opinion withdrawn, new opinion substituted, 945 F.3d 818 (2019); en banc rehearing denied, 947 F.3d 874 (5th Cir. 2020)
Subsequent	questions of state law certified to the Louisiana Supreme Court, (5th Cir. 2021)
Holding
Under the facts of this case, the state supreme court should resolve uncertain state tort law before federal courts decide whether applying that law would violate the First Amendment.
Court membership
Chief Justice John Roberts Associate Justices Clarence Thomas · Stephen Breyer Samuel Alito · Sonia Sotomayor Elena Kagan · Neil Gorsuch Brett Kavanaugh · Amy Coney Barrett
Case opinions
Per curiam
Dissent	Thomas
Barrett took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.

McKesson v. Doe, 592 U.S. 1 (2020),^[1] was a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that temporarily halted a lawsuit by a police officer against an activist associated with the Black Lives Matter movement and instructed the lower federal court (the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit) to seek clarification of state law from the Louisiana Supreme Court.^[2] At issue was whether the activist, DeRay Mckesson, could be liable under Louisiana tort law for injuries caused by other people at a protest. Mckesson had argued that the First Amendment's protection of freedom of assembly should block the lawsuit entirely. The Court's decision to instead redirect the tort law issue to the Louisiana Supreme Court means that the constitutional question was delayed or avoided.