Court Opinion

ID: 9431561
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:32:34.703663+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:29.037681
License: Public Domain

Justice Blackmun,
concurring in part and concurring in the judgment.
Although I agree with Justice O’Connor in her conclusion that the Sappenfield case, No. 87-614, is not properly here under 28 U. S. C. § 1257, a majority of the Court has decided otherwise. This majority on the jurisdictional issue, however, is divided 4 to 3 on the merits of the question presented in Sappenfield: whether the distribution of constitutionally obscene materials may be punished as predicate acts of a racketeering offense. Disposition of the case deserves — if not requires — a majority of participating Justices. See Screws v. United States, 325 U. S. 91, 134 (1945) (Rutledge, J., concurring in result).
Thus, notwithstanding my dissenting jurisdictional view, I feel obligated to reach the merits in Sappenfield. See United States v. Vuitch, 402 U. S. 62, 97-98 (1971) (separate statement). Because I agree that what may be punished under Miller v. California, 413 U. S. 15 (1973), may form the basis of a racketeering conviction, I join Justice White’s opinion (except for Part II-A) and the judgment of the Court.