Court Opinion

ID: 9439299
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 06:30:21.177448+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:26:17.543290
License: Public Domain

SILBERMAN, Senior Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I concur in the court’s opinion. We are certainly bound by Jeannette Rankin Brigade v. Chief of Capitol Police, 342 F.Supp. 575 (D.D.C.1972) (three judge panel), aff'd, 409 U.S. 972, 93 S.Ct. 311, 34 L.Ed.2d 236 (1972). However, I think it is distinctly possible that the later Supreme Court case, United States v. Grace, 461 U.S. 171, 103 S.Ct. 1702, 75 L.Ed.2d 736 (1983), particularly the Court’s implicit rejection of Justice Marshall’s position that the whole of the Supreme Court’s grounds are a traditional public forum, betokens a more sympathetic reception to the government’s arguments. To be sure, Jeannette Rankin Brigade was summarily affirmed, but the Court rarely considers itself bound by the reasoning of its prior opinions— which is why I have referred to it as a “noncourt court,” see United States v. Moore, 110 F.3d 99, 102 (D.C.Cir.1997) (Silberman, J., dissenting from denial of rehearing en banc) — let alone a summary affirmance. (Of course, the Court’s reluctance to offend Congress would not be irrelevant.)
*49In light of my doubts as to how this case win be received by the Supreme Court if certiorari is granted, I join my colleagues’ treatment of the Bivens claim. However, I am inclined to think that under applicable immunity law each of the police officer’s conduct should be judged as if he were the lawyer for the Capitol Police.