LETTERS.

• Date: 01 November 2020

Dissenting Opinions

I enjoyed Iman Zekri's article on the role and impact of dissenting opinions ("Respectfully Dissenting: How Dissenting Opinions Shape the Law and Impact Collegiality Among Judges," September/October). Perhaps the greatest benefit of dissenting opinions is public accountability. The only visible work of an appellate court is oral argument and the final decision and explanation. Dissenting opinions make the internal debate visible. That potential visibility itself can affect the majority.

New justices inevitably arrive and find 3-3 splits with opinions written awaiting a decision on which will be the majority opinion and which the dissenting one. Opinions written as a majority opinion may suddenly become a dissent. And it's not unusual for a dissenting opinion to pull votes away from the majority and become the majority opinion instead.

Perhaps the most significant example of this vote-changing effect is a dissenting opinion that was never released. The Florida Supreme Court was preparing a 6-1 decision denying special admission to the Bar for Virgil Hawkins, who had fought for years to be the first black person admitted to the University of Florida law school but was repeatedly pushed back by the Supreme Court's reaffirmance of segregation. Justice Joseph Hatchett, the only black justice, wrote a searing dissenting opinion...