Court Opinion

ID: 9429951
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:28:24.153728+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:22.273074
License: Public Domain

Justice Blackmun,
concurring in the judgment.
I would like to join the Court’s opinion, for I think its judgment is correct, and I agree with most of what the Court *582says. I, however, do not join the broad dictum, ante, at 573-574, to the effect that the same result is to be reached when the district court’s findings are based wholly on documentary evidence and do not rest at all on credibility determinations. In the past, I have joined at least one opinion that, generally, is to the opposite effect. See United States v. Mississippi Valley Barge Line Co., 285 F. 2d 381, 388 (CA8 1960). See also Ralston Purina Co. v. General Foods Corp., 442 F. 2d 389, 391 (CA8 1971); Frito-Lay, Inc. v. So Good Potato Chip Co., 540 F. 2d 927, 930 (CA8 1976); Swanson v. Baker Industries, Inc., 615 F. 2d 479, 483 (CA8 1980).
While the Court may be correct in its dictum today, certainly this case does not require us to decide the question. The record contains far more than documentary evidence, as the Court’s opinion so adequately discloses. In a case that requires resolution of the question, I might eventually be persuaded that the Court’s approach is wise. I.prefer, however, to wait for a case where the issue must be resolved and where it has been briefed and argued by the parties, rather than to address the issue by edict without these customary safeguards.
I therefore join the Court only in its judgment and not in its opinion.