"The principal question presented by this appeal is whether a special condition of parole that prohibited the possession of 'pornographic material' would have given notice to a reasonable parolee who had been convicted of sexual crimes involving minors, or his parole officer, that the condition prohibited possession of the book Scum: True Homosexual Experiences, which contains sexually explicit pictures and lurid descriptions of sex between men and boys." So begins a 45-page opinion that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued today.(Link.)
May 31, 2006
45 pages? Couldn't they have finished with just a second sentence?
Something along the lines of "Need we say more?"
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8 comments:
I would file this story and the parolee under the heading; "Too Dumb to Breed".
Wait, we're talking about sex with boys.. nevermind...
Trying again...
Was the lawyer paid by the word? hour?
Clearly not a fan of the Robert's School of appellant writing.
Lol.
"would have given notice to a reasonable parolee who had been convicted of sexual crimes involving minors, or his parole officer,"
He was convicted of sexual crimes involving his parole officer?
(I guess it isn't that ambiguous, but it wouldn't have killled them to write a bit more clearly.)
Of course, for those valuing both concision and lurid descriptions of perverse sex there is the timeless U.S. v. Guglielmi, 731 F.Supp. 1273 (W.D.N.C. 1990).
Actually, although the opinion does gild the lily in some respects -- it would be very easy to chop out ten or so pages -- the length is not entirely unjustifiable, and it couldn't have been written in a page or two. There were several questions presented, including several involving the complex doctrines of vagueness and overbreath. And the court did need to deal with what it correctly describes as "a series of strongly-worded opinions by this Court and others suggest[ing] that the term 'pornography' is unconstitutionally vague." (Moreover, two or three pages are devoted to a description of the materials in question, on the theory that "[b]ecause this case turns on whether the contents of Scum are so inarguably 'pornographic' as to fit within any reasonable definition of that term, it is necessary to describe with some thoroughness what the book depicts and how it is depicted." You can imagine what follows.)
What's truly indefensible about this opinion is not its length but the date on the front page. The plaintiff was incarcerated for a period of five months on account of his parole revocation ten years ago, and he filed this lawsuit nine years ago. Most of that delay is presumably attributable to the district court judge: Six years elapsed between the time she granted the motion to dismiss on some claims and her grant of summary judgment on the others.
My favorite line in the opinion?: "Farrell timely appealed."
Thanks, Marty. I'm being flip about it, I confess. It really does sound interesting, and vagueness and overbreadth issues are important and difficult. But, in all seriousness, I detest overlong opinions. The one sentence I've quoted is a bit of a mess. It's easier to type out long sentences these days than to make the effort to be concise and clear, and it puts a terrible burden on those of us who have to work with the material. That it took so long to come up with it is just salt in the wound.
Ann: Sorry, I didn't mean to leave a misimpression: It's *not* very interesting (not even the description of "Scum"!). Better you spend your time tracking down some Rubino sculptures, or reacquainting yourself with Prince's early works -- honest.
Marty: Thanks. I wasn't rushing over to read it, quite frankly. Vagueness and overbreadth are difficult enough. I'm not going out of my way to read lower court cases that should have gone through a few more drafts.
What I think is interesting is the increase in length of your run of the mill federal district court or appellate court opinion in the last twenty years. I blame computers. It is so easy now to cut and paste stock language for basic principles that all opinions get fat.
Writing at the trial court level, you feel like you have to keep that stock language in, though, because you can't guarantee that an appellate panel looking for a different result won't reverse because the trial judge didn't include language indicating that he applied the proper standard for granting summary judgment.
What I really hate in court opinions is the proliferation of footnotes in the last few years. 99% of the time, if it is important enough to put in the opinion, it should be in the text.
Sorry for the rant- back to some overlong opinion.
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