Opinion ID: 1331464
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Somewhere Over the Rainbow The Majority's Skitter into Judicial Federalism

Text: The majority hinges its dismissal of United States Supreme Court precedent upon a general assertion that the West Virginia Constitution may be more protective of individual rights than the Federal Constitution. What is so profoundly disturbing about the majority's opinion is that the majority would pick such an unworthy case upon which to make such an important statement. Rather than a reasoned consideration of the jurisprudence of interpreting our State Constitution differently from the Federal Constitution or a reasoned analysis of the specific language of Article III, Section 6, of the West Virginia Constitution, the majority seemingly relegates the state provision to a simple mechanism of convenience to proscribe what the majority feels is improper. The result is that the majority now creates a precedent that whenever a majority of this Court wishes to create rights for a given individual or group, the Court may simply invoke the West Virginia Constitution without so much as a plausible explanation for why such an expansion is then required. Conceptually, I agree completely with my fellow justices that the West Virginia Constitution may be read differently than the Federal Constitution. The West Virginia Constitution is not a simple redundancy. This Court has the power to impose higher standards than those required by the Federal Constitution if it so chooses. We should not blindly follow lower standards when a reasoned analysis of West Virginia law applied using standardized criteria of review compels us to believe that our Constitution stands for more. Such judicial federalism, however, must not simply spring from a desire by the Court for a given result. We must also approach such judicial federalism with a prudent measure of restraint given that clothing a pronouncement in constitutional garb effectively insulates such a pronouncement from the ordinary processes of representative government and legislative review. Of the three cases cited by the majority to support its claim that individuals enjoy greater protection under Article III, Section 6 than under the Fourth Amendment, State ex rel. Carper v. West Virginia Parole Bd., 203 W.Va. 583, 509 S.E.2d 864 (1998), Peters v. Narick, 165 W.Va. 622, 270 S.E.2d 760 (1980), and Pauley v. Kelly, 162 W.Va. 672, 255 S.E.2d 859 (1979), none actually involved these constitutional provisions. [4] Amazingly, the majority did not mention this Court's prior direction regarding construction of Article III, Section 6. Eighty-five years ago, this Court held: The provisions of our constitution relating to unreasonable search and seizure and protecting one accused of a crime from being compelled to a be a witness against himself, being substantially the same as the corresponding provisions of the federal constitution and taken therefrom, should be given a construction in harmony with the construction of federal provisions by the Supreme Court of the United States. Syl. Pt. 2, State v. Andrews, 91 W.Va. 720, 114 S.E. 257 (1922). See also, State v. Duvernoy, 156 W.Va. 578, 582, 195 S.E.2d 631, 634 (1973) (this Court has traditionally construed Article III, Section 6 in harmony with the Fourth Amendment.). As stated by Justice Cleckley, in his treatise on Criminal Procedure in West Virginia, [w]e have previously acknowledged that the federal and West Virginia constitutions are similar and despite some slight differences in phraseology, these provisions [regarding searches and seizures] should be interpreted consistently. 1 Franklin D. Cleckley, Handbook on West Virginia Criminal Procedure at I-201 (1993 & Supp.2004). Justice Cleckley himself applied this principle in State v. Lacy, 196 W.Va. 104, 468 S.E.2d 719 (1996), wherein the Court was faced with an argument that the alleged search and seizure violated both Article III, Section 6 and the Fourth Amendment. In analyzing the claims, the Court relied heavily upon Federal Fourth Amendment precedent. Thus, the majority's decision in this matter to depart from construction of Article III, Section 6 in harmony with Supreme Court decisions construing the Fourth Amendment is a departure from nearly a century of precedent of this Court and the advise and counsel of a former Justice of this Court, a scholar recognized throughout this State as the foremost authority on West Virginia criminal procedure. Although this Court in Adkins deemed our search and seizure provisions as substantially the same as the Fourth Amendment, I would argue that the main difference between the two โ the use of different conjunctions (or versus and) results in the Federal Constitution actually being more restrictive upon governmental power than the West Virginia Constitution. The Fourth Amendment provides: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. (Emphasis added). Conversely, Article III, Section 6, states: The rights of the citizens to be secure in their houses, persons, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated. No Warrant shall issue except upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, particularly describing the place to be searched, or the person or thing to be seized. (Emphasis added). Thus, for a search and seizure to be constitutional under the Fourth Amendment, there must be a warrant identifying both the place to be searched and the person or things to be seized. Conversely, under our State Constitution, the warrant may issue to search a place or to seize a person or thing. While it is unlikely that the State would seek a warrant to search a place without a corresponding request to seize a person or thing, under our Constitution, it may. Implicit in the constitutional warrant requirement is the existence of a search and seizure. Where there is neither a search nor a seizure by a governmental entity, constitutional warrant requirements are not triggered. It is our duty when interpreting the supreme law of this State to employ standards and criteria which result in a stable, predictable and reasoned approach to interpreting our State Constitution. Here, the leap to finding a constitutional infraction, without so much as a set of standards to guide the Court or a critical analysis to justify its actions, results in a legal pronouncement which borders on the nonsensical. Any foray by this Court into the use of our State Constitution in a manner fundamentally contrary to that required by the United States Constitution must begin first with a commitment to traditional notions of constitutional interpretation and a framework of standard criteria to be considered, such as: 1. The similarity of protection coverage for the constitutional provisions at issue. 2. A comparison of the specific language of the provisions at issue. The lack of distinctive language should dissuade this Court from proceeding in a distinctive manner. 3. West Virginia precedent. 4. Federal precedent. 5. Constitutional and legislative histories and official commentaries. 6. Accepted or uniform judicial interpretations of unique phrases. 7. Differences in the extent and type of interests which the Federal and the West Virginia provisions are designed to protect. This is by no means an all-inclusive list for the Court to consider. Rather, it is a beginning to a framework of standards to lead the Court to a reasoned approach to interpretation which produces a legitimate basis for a differing constitutional judgment rather than a reactive, incoherent and confusing judgment. Such an approach is positively necessary to supply judges, lawyers, governmental actors and citizens with the guidance necessary to understand their constitutional commitments.