Court Opinion

ID: 9431141
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:31:24.289528+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:27.162252
License: Public Domain

Justice Marshall,
dissenting.
I continue to be troubled by this Court’s willingness to dispose of appeals and petitions for certiorari through summary per curiam opinions, without the benefit of briefing on the merits or review of the full record of proceedings below. I have elaborated this view before, see Montana v. Hall, 481 U. S. 400, 405, n. 1 (1987) (Marshall, J., dissenting), as have other Justices of this Court, see id., at 405, n. 2, but the admonition bears repeating.
*8My doubts about summary dispositions encompass concerns about both the parties who seek our review and the integrity, perceived and actual, of our proceedings. The Rules of this Court urge litigants filing petitions for certiorari to focus on the exceptional need for this Court’s review rather than on the merits of the underlying case. Summary disposition thus flies in the face of legitimate expectations of the parties seeking redress in this Court and deprives them of any opportunity to argue the merits of their claims before judgment. Moreover, briefing on the merits should be encouraged not only because parties expect and deserve it, but because it leads to greater accuracy in our decisions. Briefing helps this Court to reduce as much as possible the inevitable incidence of error and confusion in our opinions each Term. Finally, the practice of summary disposition demonstrates insufficient respect for lower court judges and for our own dissenting colleagues on this Court.
I adhere to the view that whenever the Court contemplates a summary disposition, it should review the full record below and invite the parties to file supplemental briefs on the merits if they wish. I remain unconvinced that this slight modification of our practice would unduly burden the Court. The benefits of increasing the fairness and accuracy of our decisionmaking and the value of according greater respect to our colleagues on this and other courts more than justify these modest accommodations.