Court Opinion

ID: 9628444
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:20:32.591741+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:05.480459
License: Public Domain

SWANSTROM, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. When the allegations of Sivak’s petition for a writ of habe-as corpus are examined, it is apparent that he is either asking the courts to provide relief for “de minimus” wrongs or he raises issues that are now moot. His allegations are “de minimus” where Sivak complains that Ada County jail personnel removed from his cell empty cigarette packages, jail requisition forms, and other insignificant items. The law does not concern itself with trifles. Neither should we permit the “Great Writ” to be used as a fly swatter.
Sivak’s other allegations, concerning the taking of twelve Tylenol tablets, some strips of tape and extra bandages, conceivably raise issues about whether Sivak received adequate medical treatment while in the Ada County jail. These allegations are now moot. Sivak admits that since May 1988 he has not been confined to the Ada County jail, rather he is in the custody of the Board of Correction at the Idaho State Correctional Institution. He has raised no issues in the petition that even arguably suggest there are collateral consequences of his alleged wrongful treatment which now need to be addressed. We need not remand this ease for a lower court to say that the case is moot. We can and should make that decision here. I would affirm the dismissal order of the district court.