U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan has granted the Arizona Board of Regents an extension to file legal documents in a case involving potential University of Arizona liability in a former student’s assault by a then-football player.
ABOR now has until Jan. 25, 2024, an extension from the Dec. 26, 2023 deadline, to file its special writ of certiorari as it seeks Supreme Court review of a federal appeals court ruling that the ex-student’s lawsuit against the UA can move forward.
A writ of certiorari orders a lower court, in this case the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, to deliver its record in a case so that the higher court may review it and decide whether to take the case on. The Supreme Court uses certiorari to select most cases it hears.
The case stems from the 2016 assault of then-UA student Mackenzie Brown by Orlando Bradford, who was her boyfriend and a Wildcat football player at the time. Bradford was found guilty of two counts of domestic violence-related aggravated assault of Brown and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Brown sued the UA in 2017 under federal Title IX, arguing that the university knew of previous reports Bradford abused women students but failed to take an appropriate response that would have prevented his assault of her.
Her case against the UA was initially rejected by both a district court and a three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit Court. Those decisions were revered in September of this year by a full 11-judge panel of the 9th Circuit, which ruled her lawsuit could move forward.
A lawyer on Brown’s legal team said in a written statement this week to the Arizona Daily Star that their case remains strong.
“We are surprised by Arizona’s decision to seek cert given (Arizona) Attorney General Mayes’ purported commitment to victims of domestic violence, but we are confident the Supreme Court will deny the petition,” the lawyer said. Mayes is not a member of the Board of Regents, which oversees the state’s three public universities.
Pam Scott, a spokeswoman for the UA, said that “in general, the University does not comment on litigation in process.”
