Court Opinion

ID: 9441584
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 17:55:08.507732+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:28:30.257654
License: Public Domain

ALICE M. BATCHELDER, Chief Judge,
concurring.
I fully agree with the majority’s conclusion that the appellant’s flagrant noncompliance with the district court’s rules gave the district court ample justification to dispose of the case without addressing the merits. I write separately to clarify an important distinction between a summary affirmance and a summary dismissal. On several occasions, the majority refers to the district court’s “summary affirmance without consideration of the merits,” or some variation thereof. However, the plain meaning of the term “summary affir-mance” implies that the merits were considered and gives this court an opportunity to review the merits. Indeed, the district court anticipated that we would review the merits of the case. Because we have not reviewed the merits of the case, it would be more appropriate to acknowledge that we are, in fact, construing the district court’s order as a dismissal rather than an affirmance, and that we are affirming the dismissal because it was justified by the appellant’s noncompliance with the district court’s rules.