Court Opinion

ID: 9790133
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:46:37.33914+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:26.433682
License: Public Domain

SHEPARD, Justice,
specially concurring.
I concur in the result obtained by the majority opinion but find it necessary to express my disagreement with its rationale.
*570After upholding the power of the court to impose the sanctions for contempt, the majority opinion states: “The question is whether there is in Idaho a qualified newsman’s privilege which a journalist may assert while a witness in a habeas corpus proceedings.” The majority only partially answers the question when it states: “We hold that here there is no qualified newsman’s privilege beyond the usual inquiry concerning relevance and materiality.” (Emphasis supplied.)
Inexplicably missing in the majority opinion (except for a footnote dealing with relevancy and materiality) is this Court’s decision in Caldero v. Tribune Pub. Co., 98 Idaho 288, 562 P.2d 791 (1977). A possible explanation is that the author of today’s majority was among the dissenters in Caldero. In Caldero, the Court was squarely presented with the question of an absolute or qualified newsman’s privilege under the United States or Idaho Constitution. The Court clearly rejected the existence of either an absolute or qualified privilege under either Constitution. The Court reviewed and applied the decisions of the United States Supreme Court in Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 U.S. 665, 92 S.Ct. 2646, 33 L.Ed.2d 626 (1972); United States v. Bryan, 339 U.S. 323, 70 S.Ct. 724, 94 L.Ed. 884 (1950); Blackmer v. United States, 284 U.S. 421, 52 S.Ct. 252, 76 L.Ed. 375 (1932); Pell v. Procunier, 417 U.S. 817, 94 S.Ct. 2800, 41 L.Ed.2d 495 (1974); and Garland v. Torre, 259 F.2d 545 (2d Cir.1958), cert. denied, 358 U.S. 910, 79 S.Ct. 237, 3 L.Ed.2d 231 (1958), which was cited with approval in Branzburg v. Hayes, supra.
As stated by then Judge Potter Stewart in Garland:
“If an additional First Amendment liberty — the freedom of the press — is here involved, we do not hesitate to conclude that it too must give place under the Constitution to a paramount public interest in the fair administration of justice. ‘The right to sue and defend in the courts is the alternative of force. In an organized society, it is the right conservative of all others, and lies at the foundation of an orderly government.’ ” 259 F.2d at 549.
And as stated by Mr. Justice Byron White in Branzburg:
“Until now the only testimonial privilege for unofficial witnesses that is rooted in the Federal Constitution is the Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination. We are asked to create another by interpreting the first amendment to grant newsmen a testimonial privilege that other citizens do not enjoy. This we decline to do.
* * * * * *
“We are admonished that refusal to provide a First Amendment reporter’s privilege will undermine the freedom of the press to collect and disseminate news. But this is not the lesson history teaches us. As noted previously, the common law recognized no such privilege, and the constitutional argument was not even asserted until 1958. From the beginning of our country the press has operated without constitutional protection for press informants, and the press has flourished. The existing constitutional rules have not been a serious obstacle to either the development or retention of confidential news sources by the press.” (Emphasis supplied.) 408 U.S. at 689-691, 698-699, 92 S.Ct. at 2661, 2665, 33 L.Ed.2d at 644, 649.
In both Bryan and Blackmer, the United States Supreme Court made clear that the power of testimonial compulsion is effective to the functioning of the courts. In United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 94 S.Ct. 3090, 41 L.Ed.2d 1039 (1974), the Court emphasized that every man, including the President of the United States, is subject to compulsory process for the production of evidence and stated, “Whatever their origins, these exceptions to the demand for every man’s evidence are not lightly created nor expansively construed, for they are in derogation of the search for truth.” 418 U.S. at 710, 94 S.Ct. at 3108, 41 L.Ed.2d at 1065. In Pell, the court held that the search for truth must “override the consequential, but uncertain, burden on news *571gathering that is said to result from insisting that reporters, like other citizens, respond to relevant questions put to them in the course of a valid grand jury investigation or criminal trial.” 417 U.S. at 883, 94 S.Ct. at 2809, 41 L.Ed.2d at 508, quoting Branzburg v. Hayes, supra.
The majority furnishes no authority which in my judgment overturns or modifies the above decisions or language of the United States Supreme Court construing the asserted absolute or qualified privileges. Whatever may be the differences expressed by the lower federal courts or state courts, I have always believed that the decisions of the United States Supreme Court on questions regarding the Constitution of the United States were controlling and binding upon all other courts. I have also believed that, when a question is presented to this Court, the doctrine of stare decisis requires us to examine the previous decisions of this Court bearing on the same question and, unless those previous decisions are overruled or modified, they are dispositive and to be followed.
The majority opinion would seem to imply that Sierra Life Insurance Co. v. Magic Valley Newspapers, Inc., 101 Idaho 795, 623 P.2d 103 (1980), has somehow created a qualified newsman’s privilege. If so, I must disagree. As I view Sierra Life, it continued the validity of Caldero, stating: “The debate over the validity of Caldero was apparently put to rest by the United States Supreme Court in Herbert v. Lando, 441 U.S. 153, 99 S.Ct. 1635, 60 L.Ed.2d 115 (1979).” Sierra Life, supra, 101 Idaho at 800, 623 P.2d at 108. The court in Sierra then proceeded to discuss whether discovery was being used to harass litigants, which claim it acknowledged was not unique to journalists.
Contrary to the view expressed by the majority here, the Court in Sierra did not rule against required disclosure, but rather remanded to the trial court for reconsideration of the relevance question. Sierra, in any event, principally dealt with the question of the imposition of appropriate sanctions for refusal to comply with discovery procedures.
Insofar as the majority opinion is to be construed as holding that evidence sought from a witness in open court must be relevant and material to the issues before the court, and that such decision is committed to the sound discretion of the trial court, I have no disagreement. That rule of law is fundamental and now exists as to all witnesses and their testimony, regardless of their professional calling. However, if the opinion of the majority today is to be construed as creating a privilege to refuse to answer a propounded question because, in the witness’ opinion, it is not material or relevant, I must disagree.
In the instant case, beyond the shadow of a doubt, the testimony sought to be elicited was material and relevant. The courts of two states had placed the legal custody of the child in its father. The child’s mother and her husband refused to deliver the child to its legal custodian, concealed the child, and refused to reveal her whereabouts. The legislature of this state has denominated such conduct criminal as constituting the crime of kidnapping. The record reveals that a charge of kidnapping was filed. The instant action was brought in the courts of the State of Idaho, where the child was allegedly being concealed, seeking full faith and credit for the decrees of our sister states and the enforcement of those decrees. As pointed out by the majority, jurisdiction existed both over the cause of action and over the person of appellant Marks.
I agree with the majority in its rejection of the argument of petitioner that the information sought to be elicited from her had become stale with the passage of time. The briefs do reveal that the legal guardian has in fact regained the physical custody of the child, but only after a search of five months and an expenditure of some $17,000. Clearly, that physical custody was gained without the assistance, approval, or cooperation of either the Gilmores or Marks.