Court Opinion

ID: 9468623
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:19:16.112532+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:57.451483
License: Public Domain

SNEED, Circuit Judge,
dissenting from the failure of the court to hear this case en banc:
I write to state briefly my reasons for believing this case should have been heard by the court en banc.
The principal reason is that the rule enunciated by this case is difficult to discover after reading both the opinion and *757the “explanatory” order. The opinion, broadly read, could mean that no Supreme Court decision, not favorable to a defendant charged with a violation of criminal law and also contrary to an existing rule or principle of this court’s jurisprudence, could be applied to any defendant within this circuit whose acts alleged to be criminal occurred prior to the Supreme Court decision. Such a broad reading would defer the effect of certain Supreme Court decisions within this circuit for a substantial period of time, presumably without regard to whether the Supreme Court made its holding retroactive or not.
The “explanatory” order of the panel suggests this broad meaning was not intended. I hope that this is true. Certainly the failure of the court to hear this case en banc is inconsistent with such a broad interpretation. A failure to consider en banc the wisdom of a rule of that breadth would brand this court as irresponsible. This is a charge not to be made lightly or accepted readily. Therefore, I conclude that this broad meaning was not intended by the panel.
At the other extreme is the interpretation that this case only applies to those defendants situated precisely as was the defendant Goodheim in this case. That is, the rule of United States v. Goodheim is no broader than its facts. Neither the opinion nor the order support this interpretation. A broader rule is compelled by the language of the panel.
At this point reasonable certainty and precision vanish. Two themes appear in the two movements of the panel’s composition, viz., the ex post facto bar against expanding criminal liability after the acts in question and the due process requirement of adequate notice of the criminality of the acts prior to their occurrence. Each reinforces the other and, given full force, would provide support for the broad interpretation of this case which I believe this court has rejected.
To retreat from the abyss of either the overly broad or the unjustifiably narrow, toward which these themes like sirens do either draw or drive us, requires that we assign to Goodheim some meaning between the two extremes. This is a task that this court sitting en banc should have undertaken. Our failure to do so places upon each panel confronted with a situation having Goodheim characteristics the burden of formulating its version of the rule of Goodheim. For my part I intend to be guided by the following sentence that appears in the panel’s order:
“Where the clear, settled law of this circuit precludes notice that conduct is criminal,' due process does not permit a criminal conviction for that conduct.”
To me this is the Goodheim rule. There I stand until my sisters and brothers tell me to move along, which order, if given, will be without adequate warning.