Court Opinion

ID: 9445139
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 21:20:39.475851+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:30:08.339067
License: Public Domain

FINNEGAN, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
Weiss has not been denied bail. He is currently at liberty and has been since posting a $35,000 bond on November 2, 1955. (Affidavit of Weiss’ counsel filed in support of the motion to reduce bail pending trial, page 3.) Yet he asks us for a reduction of the bail, to which he is admitted, on the grounds that the Eighth Amendment provides: “Excessive bail shall not be required * If that interdiction is applicable to an indicted person already enlarged on bail, pending trial on the merits, then I think the majority had a justiciable issue for disposition on appeal from an order denying reduction of bail. Stack v. Boyle, 1951, 342 U.S. 1, 6, 72 S.Ct. 1, 96 L.Ed. 3.
But since Weiss has long since been released on bail the well-settled reasons for allowing bail are irrelevant. He can enjoy them all. Indeed, during oral argument the only major reasons sponsored by Weiss’ counsel for proceeding in our court now appear to be: (i) those persons who contributed toward the bail posted would now like some of their money returned and, (ii) it would be helpful if this court would announce a dollar norm as the yardstick for bail in future cases of this type. Also see: par. 9, affidavit of defendant’s counsel filed in this Court, December 16, 1955, regarding the alleged public importance of the matter before us.
Freedom, at stake in Noto v. United States, 1955, 76 S.Ct. 255, 256, is not in issue under Weiss’ appeal. By marginal notation it is there reported that Noto had “been incarcerated since August 31, 1955. His [Noto’s] allegations that he is unable himself to make the bail as fixed, or to raise more than $10,000 from his relatives and friends, are not controverted.” We, on the other hand, are asked to determine whether Weiss’ posted bail is excessive. The practical effect of reducing Weiss’ bail in our court simply means he continues at liberty at lower security. Whether such reduction increases the risk of his non-appearance for trial leads right back into the labyrinth of argument concerning “the nature and circumstances of the offense charged, the weight of the evidence against him, the financial ability of the defendant to give bail and the character of the defendant.” Rule 46(c), Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, 18 U.S.C. Weiss has shown the ability to raise the bail fixed below. I think it unnecessary to interpret the line “financial ability of the defendant to give bail” by constricting it to this defendant himself or ascertaining if it means Weiss and his friends. However, he has demonstrated his capacity for commanding financial resources which could be said equates to the ability mentioned in Rule 46(c). Weiss proceeds on the tacit theory that though the object of bail is for the release of an accused person, posted bail can run afoul of the Eighth Amendment. Yet there is nothing before us indicating that the quantum of Weiss’ current bail imperils his present freedom.
From my view-point Weiss uses his status, as a person enlarged on bail, for obtaining an advisory opinion from our Court despite the criteria laid down by Rule 46(c) ceilinged by the Eighth Amendment. Amounts of pre-trial bail for potential future offenders cannot be set up like a table of logarithms. Even my brothers, after announcing a “norm for this type of case” by way of a span of $5,000 to $10,000 promptly exceed its upper limits by $5,000. I have grave doubts about our power to prescribe uniform blanket bail ranges for future individual cases. I am unable to join in this facile method of amending Rule 46 *468(c). It is one thing to tabulate bails set in similar cases for purely comparison purposes and quite another to mandate a span with a minimum and maximum. Not only do I think such a suggestion exceeds our judicial powers, but to my mind setting a minimum of $5,000 invades the province of trial judges. Under some circumstances the announced minimum might run counter to the Eighth Amendment.
Because the membership clause of the Smith Act is still untested by the Supreme Court has little if any persuasive power for me. Certainly it is underscoring the obvious to reiterate the presumption of constitutionality accorded an act of Congress. Just how the fact that the clause has not yet been subjected to judicial baptism dictates the quantum of bail is unexplained in the majority opinion.
The constitutional issue tendered by this appeal hinges upon the purpose and interpretation of - the Eighth Amendment. Historically and currently, courts have viewed that portion of the Bill of Rights as an insulation against bail in such exorbitant amounts that the right of liberty pending trial is lost. Stack v. Boyle, 1951, 342 U.S. 1, 3, 72 S.Ct. 1, 96 L.Ed. 3, cf. Carlson v. Landon, 1952, 342 U.S. 524, 545, 72 S.Ct. 525, 96 L.Ed. 547. But I think we must be cautious in passing upon constitutional protections of personal liberty as abstract propositions. I would confine our disposition of this appeal to a review of the order entered below and avoid putting fetters on the discretion of trial judges by supplying a range of bail. The core of Rule 46(c) is embedded in a texture of sufficient suppleness to individualize bail. Any constriction at this level is, in my opin7 ion, unauthorized and unwarranted.
For these reasons I would refrain from converting this appeal into a declaration of standards for bail resting upon some elusive prophetic discernment. The order appealed, and Weiss’ present bail should be left undisturbed.