Court Opinion

ID: 9473385
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:28:32.377439+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:43:30.078891
License: Public Domain

FLAUM, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. On rare occasions, quite often in an expedited fashion, cases are unfortunately brought to this tribunal that generate a great deal of heat but shed precious little light. The instant litigation appears to fall into this sad category.
Although I share the majority’s concern with the circumstances surrounding the interpretation of this consent decree and can empathize with the desire to provide for more flexibility in its implementation, the *764assigned role of this appellate panel is the narrow one of determining whether the court below has committed an abuse of discretion. Ferrell v. Pierce, 743 F.2d 454, 461 (7th Cir.1984). Cf. Roland Machinery Co. v. Dresser Industries, Inc., 749 F.2d 380, 390 (7th Cir.1984) (In reviewing trial court rulings on preliminary injunctions, “[t]he question for us is whether the judge exceeded the bounds of permissible choice in the circumstances, not what we would have done if we had been in his shoes.”). Inviting as the majority opinion is in its reflections about the particular situation before us, it is my belief that the less said about the perimeters and purpose of this specific consent decree the better, in the context of this rushed review. The Court of Appeals is simply not the appropriate forum for fact-finding regarding matters that are uniquely the province of the district court. See, e.g., Anderson v. City of Bessemer City, — U.S. -, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 1511-12, 84 L.Ed.2d 518 (1985).
However persuasive might be an individual appellate judge’s view of how this matter could have been better handled below, I am forced to conclude that the appellants have made an insufficient showing to justify a finding of an abuse of discretion by the district court in this case. The district court in its singular role has made a decision concerning a limited time extension against the background of a multi-year and complex consent decree. We currently sit in judgment on his exercise of discretion in this specific instance and not on the wisdom or eventual correctness of this particular holding. It is not for us to determine whether “the County’s request for seven weeks of grace seems not unreasonable,” ante at 761, or to reweigh the relevant factors to “consider how these factors balance out in the present case,” ante at 759.
Whether considered under the traditional standard for obtaining modification of a consent decree enunciated in Swift, supra, and applied by the majority — or under the more liberal standard that the majority opinion suggests may be emerging for decrees supervising public institutions — I cannot conclude that the court below abused its discretion. There is simply no evidence in this record to justify my brothers’ conclusion that the court below failed to weigh any of the factors that they outline as pertinent to the decision in this case. Indeed, the record reflects that the district judge expressly considered the crime statistics submitted by the county and relied upon by the majority. I would respectfully suggest that my colleagues’ real disagreement lies with the conclusion that the trial judge reached after engaging in the discretionary balancing process rather than with how he arrived at that conclusion.
The majority opinion speaks of time constraints. But we should not be stampeded into a review of a district court decision that has not been clearly shown to have been recklessly or imprudently arrived at or to be without sufficient basis in this long-term litigation — especially when one recognizes the traditionally broad discretionary powers of the district court. I would strongly suggest that respect for the distinct roles of district and circuit courts overshadows the so-called emergency that has been urged if not thrust upon us. Legally-engineered heat waves do not build records upon which to establish the likelihood of potential crime waves.
While I do not suggest that an abuse of the appellate process has occurred in this case, an argument could be made that a clear misuse has occurred. In an era of overcrowded trial and appellate dockets, that this appeal had to be heard reflects poorly upon our system’s efforts to resolve at the district court level essentially reconcilable legal conflicts. A skeptical viewer might speculate that double bunking of a relatively few individuals for a comparatively short time is not at the heart of this appeal and that the litigants are well aware of this fact.
An experienced trial jurist and competent counsel for both sides are involved in this continuing and extensive litigation. Their not insignificant collective talents should be able to prevent further detours to progress.