108
Stevens, J., concurring in judgment
bank funds and to make false banking entries, as well as the making of such entries; none of those charges required proof that any lending limit had been exceeded.
Thus, I think it would be difficult to find a case raising a double jeopardy claim that would be any easier to decide than this one.2
II
The Court not only ignores the most obvious and straightforward basis for affirming the judgment of the Court of Appeals; it also has nothing to say about that court's explanation of why the reasoning in our opinion in United States v. Halper supported a rejection of petitioners' double jeopardy claim. Instead of granting certiorari to consider a possible error in the Court of Appeals' reasoning or its judgment, the Court candidly acknowledges that it was motivated by "concerns about the wide variety of novel double jeopardy claims spawned in the wake of Halper." Ante, at 98.
The Court's opinion seriously exaggerates the significance of those concerns. Its list of cases illustrating the problem cites seven cases decided in the last two years. Ante, at 98, n. 4. In every one of those cases, however, the Court of Appeals rejected the double jeopardy claim. The only ruling by any court favorable to any of these "novel" claims was a preliminary injunction entered by a District Court postponing implementation of New Jersey's novel, controversial
2 Petitioners challenge this conclusion by relying on dicta from Kansas v. Hendricks, 521 U. S. 346, 370 (1997). There, after rejecting a double jeopardy challenge to Kansas' Sexually Violent Predator Act, the Court added: "The Blockburger test, however, simply does not apply outside of the successive prosecution context." Ibid. This statement, pure dictum, was unsupported by any authority and contradicts the earlier ruling in United States v. Dixon, 509 U. S. 688, 704-705 (1993), that the Blockburger analysis applies to claims of successive punishment as well as successive prosecution. See also 509 U. S., at 745-746 (Souter, J., concurring in judgment in part and dissenting in part) (explaining why the Blockburger test applies in the multiple punishments context). I cannot imagine a good reason why Blockburger should not apply here.
Page: Index Previous 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007