Court Opinion

ID: 9467290
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:44:27.547042+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:16.475748
License: Public Domain

JAMES DICKSON PHILLIPS, Circuit Judge,
with whom WINTER and ERVIN, Circuit Judges join, dissenting:
We respectfully dissent from the disposition of this appeal that is mandated in the per curiam opinion of the en banc court.
Happily, the issue presented on this appeal-the proper handling of litigation between private parties in which the government asserts state secret privilege-does not come too often before the courts. When it does come, however, it poses problems of great delicacy for the courts in reconciling the conflicting public and private interests necessarily involved. The issue is one of great public importance and, because of the relative rarity of its appearance, one for which ordering legal principle has not yet clearly emerged in judicial decisions.
That issue has been squarely presented on this appeal. Because of its great public importance, its legal complexity, and the *282lack of clear authority for its management, it is our judgment that we have an obligation-or certainly an opportunity not lightly to be avoided-to speak to it more fully and, in the process, to give better guidance to our district courts, than does the court’s opinion.
In the first place, the court’s stated basis for affirmance is essentially uninformative to district judges who may in the future seek guidance in similar cases. The district court dismissed the action on the express basis that the plaintiff could not prove a prima facie case because of the state secret privilege. In affirming on another basis-that litigation would pose too high a risk of compromising the state secret-the court has chosen not to address the ground relied upon by the district court nor to indicate whether any other considerations than these two might appropriately be taken into account in ruling on a motion to dismiss because of the impact of state secret privilege. Most important in this latter respect is the ground strongly urged by defendant which in fact provided the focal point of disagreement within the panel that first heard this appeal, 635 F.2d 268, the impact of the privilege upon the defendant’s ability fairly to establish his defense. This is simply passed over.
In addition to the uninformative nature of the court’s disposition of this appeal, we think it suffers another vice. In affirming on a basis not addressed by the district court, the court has made a first instance judgmental assessment involving a prediction about the probable course of trial that should rightly be committed for first instance exercise of trial court discretion, subject to review by this court under legal guidelines provided by this court. Not only is the practice questionable for resolving this case, it invites repetition in future cases.
Having been thus critical of the court’s disposition, it remains to suggest the appropriate one from our viewpoint. That has earlier been done by the author of this opinion in the course of dissenting from the panel majority opinion, 635 F.2d 268, now superseded. It will suffice for purposes of this dissent simply to summarize the ultimate conclusions there reached, and to refer to that opinion for the rationale upon which the conclusions were based.
In summary, we would reverse and remand to the district court for further proceedings on the basis that, as the panel majority held, 635 F.2d 268, the district court erred in concluding that the plaintiff could establish no prima facie case in face of the privilege. However, for reasons developed in the dissent to the panel opinion, we would remand with general instructions that in considering the effect of state secret privilege upon litigation, a district court, in exercise of its discretion, may dismiss, subject of course to appellate review, if it appears either that: (a) the plaintiff cannot establish a prima facie case because of the privilege; (b) the defendant cannot fairly present a good faith, colorable affirmative defense, or fairly rebut the plaintiff’s prima facie case, because of the privilege; (c) the privilege so far obstructs normal proof in respect of the issues presented by the parties as to deprive the litigation process of its essential utility for fair resolution of those issues; or (d) the danger of inadvertent compromise of the protected state secrets outweighs the public and private interests in attempting formally to resolve the dispute while honoring the privilege. Of course, since the district court in the instant case has already dismissed-erroneously in our view-upon ground (a), it would be limited upon the remand we suggest to consideration of grounds (b), (c), and (d).