United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

VASQUEZ v. U.S. , 454 U.S. 975 (1981)

November 2, 1981

On petition for writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

The petition for writ of certiorari is denied.

Opinion of Justice STEVENS respecting the denial of the petition for writ of certiorari.

Practical considerations preclude the Court from explaining its reasons for denying petitions for certiorari. See Maryland v. Baltimore Radio Show, Inc., 338 U.S. 912 (opinion of Frankfurter, J., respecting the denial of the petition for writ of certiorari). Opinions dissenting from the denial of certiorari are answered so rarely that they may some-

Page 454 U.S. 975 , 976

times create an unwarranted impression that the Court is not administering its certiorari docket in a responsible way. [Footnote 1] Because I was concerned that Justice REHNQUIST's opinion in Davis v. Jacobs, et al., 454 U.S. 911, might create such an impression, I thought it appropriate to write in response. A similar concern prompts me to write in this case.

Justice BRENNAN's dissenting opinion correctly points out that there are substantial arguments favoring a grant of certiorari. There are, however, at least three countervailing considerations militating in favor of a denial of certiorari that do not clearly emerge from a reading of the dissenting opinion.

First, there is no allegation in the petition for certiorari that there is a conflict between the decision of the Court of Appeals, CA2, 638 F.2d 507, in this case and any other Federal Court of Appeals decision. Often the law develops in a more satisfactory fashion if this Court withholds review of novel issues until differing views have been expressed by other federal courts. [Footnote 2]

Second, it is not clear that petitioner has standing to object to the seizure of evidence in this case. At issue is the legal- [454 U.S. 975 , 977]

Full Text of Opinion