Rod Grabowski v. Jackson County Public Defenders Office, Roderick J. Grabowski v. Edward Hargett, Superintendent, Mississippi State Penitentiary

I must respectfully but strongly disagree with today’s resourceful and well-intentioned opinion, which abuses circuit precedent in a manner that I have not heretofore seen on this court. Judge Berrigan’s reasoning reflects a misunderstanding of the manner in which we, as a common law court, apply and interpret our prior cases.

Specifically, Judge Berrigan attempts to change circuit law by declaring that several recent panels have misinterpreted prior precedent. This eviscerates our well-established rule that one panel cannot overrule another, even if the panel majority believes that earlier…