Opinion ID: 1986216
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: inherent authority and the separation of powers doctrine

Text: Assuming that an entrapped defendant has committed an offense for which the Legislature intended criminal punishment, does this Court nevertheless possess the inherent authority to bar the criminal prosecution to ensure, as a matter of policy, that law enforcement officers adhere to appropriate standards of conduct? By formally adopting the objective view of entrapment in Turner, supra at 22, 210 N.W.2d 336, as set forth by the minority views of Justices Roberts, Frankfurter and Stewart, this Court implicitly accepted the notion that courts possess the inherent authority to implement the entrapment defense as a matter of overriding public policy. I would reject that view as well. It is readily apparent that Michigan courts lack the constitutional authority to create, out of whole cloth, substantive legal rules such as the entrapment defense. It is further apparent that, absent a valid legal rule establishing the entrapment defense, a court may not bar a criminal prosecution on the ground of entrapment. Such action would abdicate a court's constitutional duty to resolve cases according to the law and violate the separation of powers doctrine. See Const. 1963, art. 3, § 2. Our state constitution expressly provides for the separation of powers between the three coequal branches of government. [19] Justice COOLEY described the doctrine as follows: Our government is one whose powers have been carefully apportioned between three distinct departments, which emanate alike from the people, have their powers alike limited and defined by the constitution, are of equal dignity, and within their respective spheres of action equally independent. One makes the laws, another applies the laws in contested cases, while the third must see that the laws are executed. This division is accepted as a necessity in all free governments, and the very apportionment of power to one department is understood to be a prohibition of its exercise by either of the others. [ Sutherland v. Governor, 29 Mich. 320, 324-325 (1874).] The primary role of the judicial branch within our system of government is to resolve controversies by ascertaining and applying the law. E.g., Johnson v. Kramer Bros. Freight Lines, Inc., 357 Mich. 254, 258, 98 N.W.2d 586 (1959); Risser v. Hoyt, 53 Mich. 185, 193, 18 N.W. 611; Sutherland, supra at 324; see also Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137, 177, 2 L.Ed. 60 (1803). Crafting new law is a legislative function, not a judicial function: There is a distinction between legislative and judicial acts. The Legislature makes the law-courts apply it. To enact laws is an exercise of legislative power; to interpret them is an exercise of judicial power. To declare what the law shall be is legislative; to declare what it is or has been is judicial. The legislative power prescribes rules of action. The judicial power determines whether, in a particular case, such rules of action have been transgressed. The Legislature prescribes rules for the future. The judiciary ascertains existing rights. [ In re Manufacturer's Freight Forwarding Co., 294 Mich. 57, 63, 292 N.W. 678 (1940), quoting In re Consolidated Freight Co., 265 Mich. 340, 343, 251 N.W. 431 (1933) (POTTER, J., dissenting).] [20] The judicial power to ascertain and apply the law to resolve controversies is vested in the courts by Const. 1963, art. 6, § 1. By constitutional implication, courts also possess whatever ancillary powers are necessary to permit them to exercise their express judicial power. See, e.g., In re 1976 Pa. 267, 400 Mich. 660, 662-663, 255 N.W.2d 635 (1977); Gray v. Clerk of Common Pleas Court, 366 Mich. 588, 595, 115 N.W.2d 411 (1962); Anderson v. Dunn, 19 U.S. (6 Wheat) 204, 225, 5 L.Ed. 242 (1821). This implied judicial power includes the authority to regulate court procedure. See Jones v. Eastern Michigan Motorbuses, 287 Mich. 619, 645-646, 283 N.W. 710 (1939). This Court also possesses the express constitutional authority to establish general rules governing practice and procedure in all courts of this state. Const. 1963, art. 6, § 5. Our rulemaking authority under Const. 1963, art. 6, § 5 extends only to matters that are truly procedural. We lack the authority to enact rules that are procedural in operation, but substantive in purpose or effect. McDougall v. Schanz, 461 Mich. 15, 27, 597 N.W.2d 148 (1999). If the judicial branch has the inherent authority to implement the entrapment defense, it must be found within the implied judicial powers under Const. 1963, art. 6, § 1, or this Court's rulemaking authority under Const. 1963, art. 6, § 5. [21] We have not promulgated a general court rule regarding entrapment, and it is beyond peradventure to suggest that we would have the authority to do so. Michigan's entrapment defense is a matter of substantive law. The purpose of the defense is to prohibit unlawful government activity in instigating crime. [22] Turner, supra at 20, 210 N.W.2d 336, quoting Russell, supra at 442, 93 S.Ct. 1637 (Stewart, J., dissenting); see also D'Angelo, supra at 179, 257 N.W.2d 655. The regulation of law enforcement practices involved in the investigation and detection of crime falls within the police power of the legislative branch. [23] E.g. People v. Piasecki, 333 Mich. 122, 143, 52 N.W.2d 626 (1952); O'Dell v. Flint Civil Service Comm., 328 Mich. 631, 638, 44 N.W.2d 157 (1950). Further, the direct effect of the defense is to absolve of responsibility persons whose conduct is deemed criminal by the Legislature. The assignment of criminal responsibility is undeniably a matter of substantive law. For these reasons, the enactment of the entrapment defense as a general rule of procedure would be well beyond the scope of this Court's rulemaking authority under Const. 1963, art. 6, § 5. Because we lack the express authority to establish the entrapment defense as a general rule of practice and procedure under Const. 1963, art. 6, § 5, we also necessarily lack the implied authority to implement the entrapment defense as an exercise of our inherent authority to regulate procedure under Const. 1963, art. 6, § 1. It cannot be said that the existence of an entrapment defense is necessary for the courts to perform their essential judicial function. Absent a valid rule establishing the entrapment defense, a court may not cite entrapment as a reason for refusing to apply the law to the facts of a given case. In such circumstances, the judicial decision to bar the prosecution in order to preserve the institutional integrity, see Turner, supra at 21, 210 N.W.2d 336, quoting Russell, supra at 445, 93 S.Ct. 1637 (Stewart, J., dissenting), would impermissibly infringe both legislative and executive functions in violation of Const. 1963, art. 3, § 2. It is manifestly the function of the Legislature, and not the courts, to define illegal conduct. See Sorrells, supra at 449-450, 53 S.Ct. 210; Lamphere, 61 Mich. 105, 108, 27 N.W. 882 (1886). Further, it is properly the function of the executive, and not the courts, to determine whether to proceed with the prosecution under the law as defined by the Legislature. Sorrells, supra at 450, 53 S.Ct. 210; see also Genesee Prosecutor v. Genesee Circuit Judge, 386 Mich. 672, 683-684, 194 N.W.2d 693 (1972) (holding that trial court violated the separation of powers doctrine in amending an information over prosecutorial objection). Finally, the judicial branch lacks the authority to oversee the executive branch by wielding a chancellor's foot veto over disfavored law enforcement practices. Russell, supra at 435, 93 S.Ct. 1637. In sum, [i]t is the responsibility of the court to determine the guilt or innocence of the offender. It is not the responsibility of the judiciary to supervise law enforcement procedure. Jamieson, supra at 79, n. 7, 461 N.W.2d 884 (BRICKLEY, J.). In my view, the Solicitor General had the better argument in Sorrells: [T]he Legislature, acting within its constitutional authority, is the arbiter of public policy. Id. at 445-446, 53 S.Ct. 210. [W]here conduct is expressly forbidden and penalized by a valid statute, the courts are not at liberty to disregard the law and to bar a prosecution for its violation because they are of the opinion that the crime has been instigated by government officials. Id. at 446, 53 S.Ct. 210. Because Michigan's entrapment defense requires courts to disregard the law in precisely this manner, it should be abrogated.