Saleem Hakim defeats federal government petition for certiorari

Client(s) Hakim, Saleem

After having obtained vacatur of a conviction at the Eleventh Circuit, Jones Day on behalf of Saleem Hakim successfully defended that judgment at the Supreme Court of the United States.

The underlying case was a criminal prosecution brought by the United States against Mr. Hakim for failing to file three federal income tax returns. During pretrial proceedings, Mr. Hakim was undisputedly denied the right to counsel, and the issue on appeal became whether that pretrial denial of counsel constituted structural error requiring an automatic reversal. The Eleventh Circuit agreed with Jones Day's arguments that it did, which led the federal government to petition the Supreme Court to review that question. The federal government has a roughly 80% success rate in petitioning for certiorari, and it here claimed a deep circuit split and conflict with Supreme Court precedent. Jones Day argued that the circuit split and purported conflict were illusory, persuading the Court to deny certiorari.

United States v. Haakim, No. 22-464 (U.S.)