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- SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
- --------
- No. 90-6105
- --------
- JOHN H. EVANS, Jr., PETITIONER v.
- UNITED STATES
- on writ of certiorari to the united states court of
- appeals for the eleventh circuit
- [May 26, 1992]
-
- Justice O'Connor, concurring in part and concurring in
- the judgment.
- I join Parts I and II of the Court's opinion, because in my
- view they correctly answer the question on which the Court
- granted certiorari-whether or not an act of inducement is
- an element of the offense of extortion under color of official
- right. See Pet. for Cert. i. The issue raised by the dissent
- and discussed in Part III of the Court's opinion is not fairly
- included in this question, see our Rule 14.1(a), and sound
- prudential reasons suggest that the Court should not
- address it. Cf. Yee v. City of Escondido, ___ U. S. ___, ___-
- ___ (slip op. at 13-17) (1992). Neither party in this case
- has briefed or argued the question. A proper resolution of
- the issue requires a detailed examination of common law
- extortion cases, which in turn requires intensive historical
- research. As there appear to be substantial arguments on
- either side, we would be far more assured of arriving at the
- correct result were we to await a case in which the issue
- had been addressed by the parties. It is unfair to the
- respondent to decide a case on a ground not raised by the
- petitioner and which the respondent has had no opportunity
- to address. For these reasons, I join neither the dissent nor
- Part III of the Court's opinion, and I express no view as to
- which is correct.
-