Court Opinion

ID: 9651134
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 16:08:47.928663+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:30.563026
License: Public Domain

STEPHENS, Circuit Judge
(concurring).
I concur in the opinion prepared by Judge WILBUR and in the decision reached therein. To decide otherwise, as it seems to me, would be judicial usurpation of power to meet an unusual situation. One of the maxims of the law is that hard cases make bad law. It cannot be denied that the evidence in this case falls far short of the “clear, unequivocal and convincing” rule the Supreme Court has announced. for the review of judgments in denaturalization proceedings. Baumgartner v. United States, 64 S.Ct. 1240; Schneiderman v. United States, 320 U.S. 118, 63 S.Ct. 1333, 87 L.Ed. 1796.
This proceeding, however, does not originate in a court action as those cases do but from an administrative decision. Not only has the Supreme Court never announced the “clear, unequivocal and convincing” rule for such a proceeding, it has never announced that any court in reviewing such a decision can decide whether or not the mere burden of proof has been or has not been sustained. When some evidence supporting the decision has been found, the reviewing court’s decision is definitely fixed. See the quotations in the main opinion from Tisi v. Tod, 264 U.S. 131, 133, 44 S.Ct. 260, 68 L.Ed. 590, written by Mr. Justice Brandéis, and from United States ex rel. Vajtauer v. Commissioner of Immigration, 273 U.S. 103, 112, 47 S.Ct. 302, 71 L.Ed. 560, written by Mr. Justice Stone.
In no case have I given the evidence more careful attention than in this one. However, such attention has not left in my mind the pleasurable satisfaction that, barring a very slight possibility of error, the truth has been revealed. Such satisfaction is beside the point here. The simple question this court must answer is: Is there some evidence to sustain the charges? There is.
I am authorized to say that Judges WILBUR and MATHEWS are in agreement with these expressions.