Court Opinion

ID: 9452883
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 17:55:09.990123+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:33:23.896948
License: Public Domain

Statement of Circuit Judge Robinson As To Why He Votes To Grant Rehearing En Banc
SPOTTSWOOD W. ROBINSON, III, Circuit Judge.
I share with other members of the court deep concern over the increasing uncertainty left in the wake of the de-cisional series headed by Blue. The difficulty could, of course, be dissipated by firm judicial definitions as to the legitimate function of the preliminary hearing and the impact of an intervening indictment. But during the more than two years elapsing since the panel decision in Blue, the full court has not dealt with these broad, recurrent questions. This, in my judgment, has promoted the imprecision we now find in this important area of the law.
Because I think en banc consideration is overdue, I have voted to grant the Government’s petition. In doing so, I perceive no impediment to reaching the basic issues, which the statements subscribed by five of my colleagues in some measure address. I have not joined in any of these expressions, and do not intimate an individual view on the merits, since neither course would contribute to the solution present conditions demand. Clarification by the court as a whole, after briefing and argument, appeals to me as the only method by which we can hope to discharge our responsibility to mold stable procedures to govern preliminary hearings in the District of Columbia.