Court Opinion

ID: 9475710
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:36:26.084571+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:53.574412
License: Public Domain

FAGG, Circuit Judge,
with whom ROSS, JOHN R. GIBSON, and BOWMAN, Circuit Judges, join, dissenting from the denial of rehearing en banc.
Michael Keith Samuels, in a letter, threatened to kill the President of the United States. This threat was a direct violation of 18 U.S.C. § 871(a). Samuels argued he could not be held responsible for his *1302actions, however, because he was insane at the time he made the threat. A jury rejected Samuels’ insanity defense and returned a verdict of guilty.
Despite the jury’s traditional function in our judicial system, a panel of this court reversed Samuels’ conviction and held as a matter of law the evidence was insufficient to find Samuels sane. The panel reached this result only by doing violence to well-respected legal principles that permit the admission into evidence of expert testimony and weigh heavily in favor of upholding the jury’s verdict.
Because the case involves a threat to kill the President of the United States and the panel decision has a strong appearance of error, this court should review the record en banc. The case is particularly appropriate for rehearing on the merits because the two active judges on the panel disagreed, leaving the ultimate panel decision to hinge on the vote of a district court judge sitting by designation. As the tally stands, five judges now vote to deny rehearing en banc: Chief Judge Lay, and Judges Heaney, McMillian, Arnold, and Magill.
I believe each judge on this court embraces the view that presidential safety is fundamental to the constitutional system we are bound to preserve and protect. I also believe a majority of the judges on the court deem this case — involving a direct threat to the President’s life — worthy of en banc review. Thus, I can conclude only that the court has based its denial of en banc review on a consideration wholly unrelated to the merits of this case: the Justice Department’s decision not to seek rehearing.
Not only is this consideration transparent, it is entirely irrelevant to the question of rehearing on the merits when presidential safety is involved. In the face of no request by the Justice Department for rehearing, we have given only inconsequential weight to the judgment of two active circuit judges, one of whom initiated the request for rehearing and the other who reviewed the record in the case. Further, we have permitted a district court judge sitting by designation effectively to speak for this court on an issue of national concern.
The Justice Department's decision not to seek rehearing may have been a careful and deliberate one. Nevertheless, we cannot permit the Justice Department to dictate the actions of this court. The active judges of this court hold the end responsibility here. We, not the Justice Department, have the duty to correct an erroneous panel decision. The Justice Department’s failure to act should never paralyze this court.
Significantly, we are not too busy to rehear en banc several other cases on January 12, 1987. Although the cases involve recurring issues of substantial importance, they do not impress me as having greater importance to our circuit than the safety of our nation’s President. Like Samuels, each of these cases involves a decision in which the two active judges on the panel disagreed, leaving the final result to turn on the vote of a district court judge sitting by designation. If the active judges are to speak on behalf of the court, we should grant rehearing in Samuels as in the other cases. Our en banc hearing schedule could easily accommodate the consideration of Samuels.
Essentially, the court is declaring that as a matter of policy we will not initiate en banc review on our own motion. Without question, policy considerations have a legitimate role to play in the internal operating affairs of an appellate court; however, policy should not become an end in itself. Regrettably, that appears to have happened here. To leave this case in its present posture casts a shadow on the national conscience of the court.
Threats to our President are constant. None should be taken lightly. Judicial lethargy has no place here. We do not have to reach far back into our memories to recall the attempted assassinations of President Ronald Reagan (March 30, 1981) and President Gerald R. Ford (September 5 and 22, 1975), and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (November 22, 1963). Today, Samuels is a free man. I *1303can only hope the President is not once again at risk.
I would grant rehearing en banc.