Blau v. United States (340 U.S. 159)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided December 11, 1950 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 340 U.S. 159 · 71 S. Ct. 223
- Docket
- No. 22
- Argued
- November 7, 1950
- Decided
- December 11, 1950
- Term
- October Term 1950
- Vote
- 8–0
- Majority author
- Justice Black
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Minton, Justice Burton, Justice R. H. Jackson, Justice Douglas, Justice Frankfurter, Justice Reed, Justice Black (wrote)
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Black delivered the opinion of the Court. In response to a subpoena, petitioner appeared as a witness before the United States District Court Grand Jury at Denver, Colorado. There she was asked several questions concerning the Communist Party of Colorado and her employment by it. Petitioner refused to answer these questions on the ground that the answers might tend to incriminate her. She was then taken before the district judge where the questions were again propounded and where she again claimed her constitutional privilege against self-incrimination and refused to testify. The district judge found petitioner guilty of contempt of court and sentenced her to imprisonment for one year. The Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed. 180 F. 2d 103. We granted certiorari because the decision appeared to deny rights guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment. The holding below also was in conflict with recent decisions of the Fifth and Ninth Circuits. Estes v. Potter, 183 F. 2d 865; Alexander v. United States, 181 F. 2d 480. At the time petitioner was called before the grand jury, the Smith Act was on the statute books making it a crime among other things to advocate knowingly the desirability of overthrow of the Government by force or violence; to organize or help to organize any society or group which teaches, advocates or encourages such overthrow of the Government;…
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