Roberts Scolds Solicitor General Over Wasting 'Hard-Working' Judges' Time
Vacating the judgment of a lower court, Roberts said, should be done only after "affording that court the courtesy of reviewing the case on the merits."
May 13, 2019 at 07:34 PM
4 minute read
The original version of this story was published on National Law Journal
Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. was evidently not pleased with the U.S. solicitor general, a view he made clear in a brief and pointed dissenting opinion Monday.
Roberts rarely displays annoyance with lawyers who make arguments before him or in their briefs. He is a stickler for procedure and has kept a reputation as an even-tempered justice.
In the case Myers v. United States, James Myers had filed a motion to proceed as a pauper and a petition for review. He was asking the justices whether the offense of “first-degree terroristic threatening” under Arkansas law qualified as a violent felony under the federal Armed Career Criminal Act. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said it did qualify.
The Solicitor General's Office initially waived a response to Myers' petition, an indication that the government did not consider the petition worthy of review.
But the justices requested a response.
Noel Francisco, the U.S. solicitor general, told the high court that the Eighth Circuit correctly described the proper analysis under the Supreme Court's 2016 decision—in the case Mathis v. United States—but “applied that analysis in a manner that is inconsistent with this court's decision.”
Francisco urged the Supreme Court to grant the petition, vacate the lower court judgment, and return the dispute for a “fresh application” of Mathis.
“A remand would permit the court of appeals to consider the substantial body of Arkansas case law supporting the conclusion that the statute's death-or-serious-injury language sets forth an element of the crime,” Francisco wrote.
And that is exactly what the majority did.
Roberts, however, who was joined by justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito Jr. and Brett Kavanaugh, dissented.
Roberts said that nothing had changed since the Eighth Circuit concluded that Myers' conviction for first-degree terroristic threatening qualified as a violent felony under federal law.
Roberts added: “The government continues to believe that classification is correct, for the same reasons that it gave to the Eighth Circuit. But the solicitor general asks us to send the case back, and this court obliges, because he believes the Eighth Circuit made some mistakes in its legal analysis, even if it ultimately reached the right result.”
The chief justice continued: “He wants the hard-working judges of the Eighth Circuit to take a 'fresh' look at the case, so that they may 'consider the substantial body of Arkansas case law supporting the conclusion that the statute's death-or-serious injury language sets forth an element of the crime,' and then re-enter the same judgment the court vacates today.”
Vacating the judgment of a lower court, Roberts said, should be done only after “affording that court the courtesy of reviewing the case on the merits and identifying a controlling legal error. This case does not warrant our independent review.”
Roberts offered advice to Francisco about what he should have done about his concerns.
“If the government wants to ensure that the Eighth Circuit does not repeat its alleged error, it should have no difficulty presenting the matter to subsequent panels of the Eighth Circuit, employing the procedure for en banc review should it be necessary.”
If Roberts was unhappy, then Myers and his lawyer, Federal Public Defender Christopher Holt of Fayetteville, had to be pleased. They get another shot at convincing the lower court of their arguments.
Read Roberts's dissent below:
Read more:
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All'Rapidly Closing Window': Progressive Groups Urge Senate Votes on Biden's Judicial Nominees
5 minute readBig Law Practice Leaders 'Bullish' That Second Trump Presidency Will Be Good for Business
3 minute readTrump's Return to the White House: The Legal Industry Reacts
Trending Stories
- 1Trump's Return to the White House: The Legal Industry Reacts
- 2Infant Formula Judge Sanctions Kirkland's Jim Hurst: 'Overtly Crossed the Lines'
- 3Climate Disputes, International Arbitration, and State Court Limitations for Global Issues
- 4Election 2024: Nationwide Judicial Races and Ballot Measures to Watch
- 5Judicial Face-Off: Navigating the Ethical and Efficient Use of AI in Legal Practice [CLE Pending]
- 6How Much Does the Frequency of Retirement Withdrawals Matter?
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250