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Supreme Court Case TrackerThe Court, in plain English

Emergency application

Federal tax dispute

Peter Gibbons v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

Denied
No. 25A1276Stay applicationFiled by a private partyPresented to Justice KaganFrom United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

What did the Court do?

The Court denied the request on May 19, 2026: the lower court's ruling stays in effect while the appeal continues.

Emergency rulings are temporary and do not decide the underlying case.

Filed Ruled 10 days after filing

What's being asked

Peter Gibbons asks the Court to temporarily pause a Ninth Circuit ruling in his case against the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. The record does not explain what the dispute or lower-court ruling concerns.

What the Court did

The Court refused emergency help: Justice Kagan denied Gibbons's request to pause the Ninth Circuit ruling. The denial does not decide who wins the underlying dispute. The Court did not publish how the justices voted.

Vote not published · 9the order does not say how they voted
  1. Roberts
  2. Thomas
  3. Alito
  4. Sotomayor
  5. Kagan
  6. Gorsuch
  7. Kavanaugh
  8. Barrett
  9. Jackson
The order does not say how any justice voted, as is usual on the emergency docket.
Half of 252 rulings on applications decided without a response came 8 to 30 days after filing, and the median was 14 days; this one was ruled on 10 days after filing.

What it means

The Court decided only whether to temporarily pause the Ninth Circuit ruling, not who wins the underlying dispute. The Ninth Circuit ruling remains in place; no related Supreme Court case about the main dispute or argument on this application is listed.

Sources

Facts on this page come from the Supreme Court docket, orders, and opinions for No. 25A1276. The answers restate that record in plain words; explainer copy is written from the record and the filings only.

Checked October 4, 2026