Court Opinion

ID: 9430984
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:31:03.729835+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:20:24.695583
License: Public Domain

Justice Powell,
with whom The Chief Justice and Justice O’Connor join, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
In this case, the District Court appointed counsel for a party in a civil suit as a prosecutor in a related criminal contempt proceeding. The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit found that the District Court did not abuse its discretion in making such an appointment. The Court today reaches a contrary conclusion. I agree that the District Court abused *826its discretion in this case, and that, as a general matter, courts should not appoint interested private lawyers to prosecute charges of criminal contempt. But while I agree with the underlying rationale of the Court’s opinion, I do not believe that this Court’s precedents call for per se reversal. I therefore cannot join the Court’s judgment.
The ethical rules of the legal profession prohibit representation of two clients who “may have differing interests.” Ethical Consideration 5-14, American Bar Association, Model Code of Professional Responsibility (1982) (emphasis added). This is the situation the Court today correctly finds to exist. I agree that “the appointment of counsel for an interested party to bring the contempt prosecution in this case at a minimum created opportunities for conflicts to arise.” Ante, at 806 (emphasis in original). A prosecutor occupies a unique role in our criminal justice system and it is essential that he carry out his duties fairly and impartially. Where a private prosecutor appointed by a District Court also represents an interested party, the possibility that his prosecutorial judgment will be compromised is significant. This potential for a conflict of interest warrants an exercise of this Court’s supervisory powers to hold that it is improper to appoint such a lawyer to prosecute a charge of criminal contempt.
While the potential for prosecutorial impropriety may justify the conclusion that such appointments are inappropriate, it does not justify invalidation of the conviction and sentence in this case. Even where constitutional errors are found to have occurred, this Court has found harmless-error analysis to be appropriate. Chapman v. California, 386 U. S. 18 (1967). As the Court recently noted: “[I]f the defendant had counsel and was tried by an impartial adjudicator, there is a strong presumption that any other errors that may have occurred are subject to harmless-error analysis.” Rose v. Clark, 478 U. S. 570, 579 (1986).
Here, the error is not of constitutional dimension. Moreover, the defendants had counsel and were convicted of crimi*827nal contempt by an impartial jury. The Court of Appeals found “[no] reason to believe” that the private prosecutor in this case acted unethically. 780 F. 2d 179, 185 (CA2 1985). The court also found the evidence offered at trial “ample” to support the convictions. Ibid. These findings strongly imply that the error of appointing the private counsel in this case to prosecute the contempt proceeding was harmless.
Although this Court has the authority to review a record to evaluate a harmless-error claim, United States v. Hasting, 461 U. S. 499, 510 (1983), I share the Court’s concern that the effect of conflicting interests on the integrity of prosecutorial decisions may be subtle. Accordingly, I would remand these cases to the Court of Appeals — in light of our decision today— to determine whether the error of appointing the private attorney to prosecute the contempt proceeding at issue was' harmless.