Court Opinion

ID: 9563111
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:36:59.489385+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:17:44.237600
License: Public Domain

Shearing, J.,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I concur in the decision to grant the Commission’s motion to file a document in excess of ten pages and to deny the Commission’s motion to strike Judge Whitehead’s answer.
I dissent in the decision to deny the Commission’s Petition for Rehearing or in the Alternative for Amendment of Opinion. I believe now, as I believed when what the majority calls Whitehead I was signed, that this court should not issue opinions on such important matters in a piecemeal fashion without the benefit of full oral argument and due deliberation by all members of the court. Virtually every aspect of this case involves fundamental questions of the relationship between constitutional bodies of government. Yet the majority chooses to write multi-page opinions on motions or petitions for rehearing, motions which in *431other cases are invariably disposed of by one-sentence or one-paragraph orders, either granting or denying them. I would grant the petition for rehearing, withdraw the Whitehead I opinion and schedule oral argument to hear that issue as well as all matters, including Whitehead’s underlying petition, on their merits. It is vital to the integrity of and public confidence in our courts that this entire matter be resolved expeditiously.
Aside from my objection to the piecemeal discussion of this case, I would grant the petition because the Commission has presented evidence of grave factual errors in Whitehead I. Even though the majority in this opinion attempts to justify some of the misstatements or unfair inferences in Whitehead I, it does not reflect well on this court that an opinion is published and allowed to remain in our permanent records when we are told of inaccuracies and refuse to change them.
The majority justifies its denial of the petition by saying that the outcome would not be changed and the Commission has already complied with the discovery order; therefore, the matter is of no material consequence and is moot. Clearly, the court has put the Commission in an untenable position. They were given the choice of either complying with the discovery order or facing individual contempt charges. Now, according to the majority, by complying with the court’s order, the Commission forfeited the opportunity to correct the errors in the order. This is unfair. The petition should be granted.