Court Opinion

ID: 9530188
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:58:02.252644+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:01.214296
License: Public Domain

Steffen, J.,
concurring:
I concur in the majority opinion but feel compelled to respond to the gratuitous remarks of the dissenting justices regarding the participation of the members of this court on the Board of Pardons (Board).
Nevada is a unique state. As far as I have been able to ascertain, Nevada’s mechanism for administering clemency is also unique among the states. During the 1863 Nevada Constitutional Convention, the proposed powers of pardon and reprieve were initially vested in the Governor. The available discussion on the proposal is limited and reads as follows:
Mr. Brosnan said he though the section conferred altogether too unlimited and dangerous power upon the Governor. He would like to have the opinion of someone who was conversant with this matter.
Mr. Johnson said the section conferred upon the Governor not only great power, but also great responsibility. He thought it would be better to divide both, and suggested that the pardoning power might be rested in the Governor, Chief Justice and Attorney General. In order to devise some proper arrangement, differing possibly, from the systems in vogue in the other States, he moved that the Committee recommend the reference of the section to a Special Committee. As to the *833particular matter referred to by Mr. Brosnan, of the power of the Executive to impose restrictions and limitations, the object was to enable the Executive to require pardoned criminals to leave the State — by which means the commonwealth often got rid of dangerous characters.
A. Marsh, S. Clemens & A. Bowman, Reports of the 1863 Constitutional Convention of the Territory of Nevada 135 (W. Miller, E. Bushnell 1972).
Unfortunately, we apparently do not have additional history concerning the deliberations of the committee assigned to the task of formulating recommendations for the constitutional provision conferring the powers of pardon and reprieve. History reveals, however, that the initial proposal vesting all such power in the Governor was changed to include the Governor, the Justices of the Supreme Court and the Attorney General acting by majority rule, with the Governor necessarily voting with the majority. Thus, the current composition and decisional powers of the Board have existed as part of our original constitution since 1864 when Nevada was admitted to the Union.
There are current moves under way to amend Nevada’s constitution in order to change its pristine clemency mechanism by removing the Justices of the Supreme Court from the Board. I have heard two reasons advanced in favor of the proposition, neither of which, in my opinion, has validity. The first reason may be treated summarily. It is argued that the members of this court are too busy to perform their functions as members of the Board. The Board meets twice yearly. The total time necessary to fully prepare for and conduct the hearings is three days. I suggest that the business of the Board is sufficiently important to warrant an allowance of time necessary to fulfill the purposes of the Board. Moreover, necessity suggests that an intermediate appellate court will become a reality in the not distant future, thus providing more time for the members of this court to perform their duties on the Board. In any event, the powers of pardon and commutation have been viewed with a high degree of concern from the time of Nevada’s birth as a state. Criminal accountability with its associated penalties is achieved at substantial social cost. We should view with equal importance the prospect of granting relief from lawfully imposed sentences, given the potential cost to society of an undiscerning use of the Board’s powers.
The dissenting justices address the second, and ostensibly more plausible reason for relieving the members of this court from service on the Board by stating that “[t]his case illustrates why Supreme Court Justices should not sit on the Board of Pardons. We grant early release with one hand and snatch it away with the other. A conflict of interest is inherent when this court is *834asked to review its own decisions while sitting in another capacity.” I disagree with every aspect of the quoted conclusions for the following reasons:
1. There is no conflict, inherent or otherwise, in having the members of this court sit on the Board. Although I will address the instant case separately, it is worth emphasizing that, as far as research reveals, the case before us is unique in the annals of the Board. It must also be emphasized that the Supreme Court is not a sentencing body. Despite the fact that under circumstances both historically and comparatively rare, the Court must fulfill its constitutional mandate to modify sentences that are constitutionally infirm, in no case does the court have any sort of “vested” interest in maintaining convictions and sentences determined and imposed by juries and other judges. The reference by the dissent to the members of this court granting relief with one hand (sitting as members of the Board) and snatching it away with the other (as justices sitting on appellate review) is in no sense supportive of the proposition that we do so in a position of conflict. This court routinely processes petitions for rehearing in which the court is invited to reconsider the propriety of its own rulings. I have yet to hear a justice contend that a conflict arises by virtue of the fact that we are faced with the prospect on rehearing of declaring ourselves in error in our initial dispositions. As Supreme Court Justices our sworn duty is to respect and comply with the law and conduct ourselves so as to promote public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary. We are able to do so as members of the Board with even less potential “conflict” than we do as members of an appellate court often petitioned to reconsider the propriety of its own rulings. Usually, as Board members we simply determine whether the passage of time and circumstances developing after an applicant’s original conviction and sentence warrant an exercise of the Board’s powers of clemency.
2. The dissent focuses on the instant case specifically when it declares that “[a] conflict of interest is inherent when this court is asked to review its own decisions while sitting in another capacity.” The assertion is seriously flawed. First, this court was not asked to review “its own decision,” for we do not sit as a court when functioning as constitutional members of the Board. What we are asked to do as a court in this unique case, is to review the decision of the constitutionally comprised Board on which we sit as individual members. I must assume that if any members of this court, including the dissenting justices, viewed themselves in a position of conflict in undertaking such a review, they would have disqualified themselves as required by Canon 3 C of the Supreme Court Rules. Indeed, the mere fact that the dissenting justices
*835have concluded that the Board’s action was without jurisdiction is cogent evidence that the process is unimpaired by some sort of misguided allegiance to Board action that would impact the capacity of this court to exercise an independent and honest judgment on the merits. Moreover, this court has previously validated the propriety of members of this court acting in one capacity concerning the same matter that ultimately comes before the same justices sitting in a different capacity as part of the reviewing court. Thus, in both Goldman v. Bryan, 104 Nev. 644, 764 P.2d 1296 (1988), and In re Petition to Recall Dunleavy, 104 Nev. 784, 769 P.2d 1271 (1988), members of this court who acted in an administrative capacity to reach or make decisions that later became directly implicated in litigation reviewed or otherwise acted upon by the same justices as part of this court, were not disqualified by any form of inherent conflict posed by acting in two different capacities concerning the matters that were litigated. To the contrary, we held that “[ejven where the court’s prior judicial and administrative actions may support an inference that the justices in question possess legal opinions at odds with appellant’s views of the court’s constitutional authority, that fact does not constitute a legally cognizable ground for disqualification.” Goldman, 104 Nev. at 654, 764 P.2d at 1302. An honest, honorably motivated judge is equally able to adjudicate impartially whether rehearing his or her own prior rulings or the rulings or decisions reached in part by the same judge authoritatively acting in another capacity. Justices of this court are not infrequently required to do just that as part of their sworn duties of office.
Because supreme court justices are elected in Nevada, it would undoubtedly be of political advantage for justices to be able to avoid what may on occasion be viewed by the public as unwise or unpopular decisions on the part of the Board. I suggest, however, that members of this court should be willing to assume that risk in order to preserve a system that I submit has served the State of Nevada well for over one and a quarter centuries. Paraphrasing a platitudinous metaphor, the wheel, as yet unbroken, is hardly in need of replacement. And who knows, the new product may be inferior to the old.