[DOWNLOAD] "Smith v. United States District Court Officers" by Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ~ Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Smith v. United States District Court Officers
- Author : Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
- Release Date : January 07, 2000
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 63 KB
Description
Douglas Smith was convicted in federal court some years ago of a drug crime, and he now seeks copies of audiotapes of all the proceedings in his case, claiming that the transcripts were inaccurate. He styled his claim, filed in the district court where he had been convicted, as a claim for a writ of mandamus; but among other conditions on the exercise of the mandamus jurisdiction, the claimant must show that he had no adequate remedy at law, and Smith cannot show this, because as we held in Smith v. United States, 956 F.2d 647 (7th Cir. 1992) (another Smith), there is a federal common law right to access to federal judicial records which can be enforced by means of an ordinary suit under 28 U.S.C. sec. 1331 (the federal-question jurisdiction). But also as in Smith, since nothing turns on whether Douglas Smiths suit is described as a suit for mandamus or a suit to enforce a federal common law right, the district judge should have reclassified the suit rather than (as he did) dismissing it.