Court Opinion

ID: 8958194
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-11-27 09:26:13.923641+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:10:08.179889
License: Public Domain

SNEED, Circuit Judge,
concurring separately:
I concur in Judge Poole’s opinion. Confronted with some uncertainties about scientific truth, judges, perhaps above all others, should act on the basis of that which is known, or, where this is not possible, on the basis of that which those best qualified to speak say is known. Judge Poole has set out clearly what those best qualified say they know, and we have no choice but to accept their version of the truth. We can neither await ultimate validation nor reject their version on the basis of our awareness that the truths of medical science are frequently revised in the light of new data.
No doubt the possible catastrophic consequences of a substantial alteration of the current truth unduly influenced the district judge. His calculus was impermissibly flawed, however. Chalk, on the basis of current, and perhaps permanent, truth, demonstrated high probability of success, and on the basis of the same truth showed that the balance of hardships tipped sharply in his favor. This was his burden and he successfully carried it.