Court Opinion

ID: 9428565
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:24:08.475291+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:14.264060
License: Public Domain

Justice Powell,
with whom Justice Blackmun joins,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur in the Court’s decision to vacate the judgment and opinion of the Court of Appeals. But I would not simply dismiss the Government’s appeal. Rather I would remand the matter to the District Court for entry of a fresh decree from which a timely appeal might be taken. This is the course *392customarily followed by the Court in cases such as this. See Query v. United States, 316 U. S. 486 (1942); see also Gonzalez v. Employees Credit Union, 419 U. S. 90 (1974); United States v. Christian Echoes Ministry, 404 U. S. 561 (1972); Board of Regents of University of Texas System v. New Left Education Project, 404 U. S. 541 (1972); Mitchell v. Donovan, 398 U. S. 427 (1970); Moody v. Flowers, 387 U. S. 97 (1967). Title 28 U. S. C. § 1252 is designed to expedite review by this Court, not defeat it. Because review in this case has been unnecessarily delayed, the Court reasons that “a recognition of jurisdiction would permit needless delay in securing Supreme Court review of a decision holding a federal statute unconstitutional.” Ante, at 391, n. 3. But just because this case already has been delayed too long does not require that we should compound the error by leaving the case in a posture defeating all review.
An Act of Congress has been held unconstitutional. I cannot believe that Congress intended § 1252 to serve the function of blocking review in this Court in these circumstances. Because the Court’s disposition defeats the fundamental purpose of § 1252, I dissent.