Court Opinion

ID: 9757564
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 22:46:51.909431+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:41.077637
License: Public Domain

Justice CASTILLE,
Dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. Upon Application for Reconsideration, the Court today essentially reverses its position, memorialized in its September 17, 2004 per curiam order, and remands this matter for supplementation and further consideration. It does so without citing any reason warranting reconsideration. Reconsideration by an appellate court is not a matter of right, but one of sound judicial discretion, and will be allowed only when there are compelling reasons. See Pa. R.A.P. 2543. Reconsideration is not meant to provide a second bite at the same apple, but rather, a fail-safe for instances where an initial decision was incorrect.
The initial decision was not incorrect and today’s unexplained decision is unwarranted. This Court did not misapprehend the material facts or the governing law in issuing its previous order. All that has changed is that some members of the Court have apparently changed their minds concerning the same facts and the same law. In my view, no compelling reasons exist to take the extraordinary measure of granting reconsideration. Because the Court’s unexplained about-face will further enmesh us in an unnecessary and ill-advised micromanagement of this Grand Jury proceeding, I dissent. See In re: Bucks County Investigating Grand Jury, Application of: Ronald P. Power et al., 861 A.2d 876 (Pa.2004) (Castille, J., joined by Eakin, J. dissenting).