Blumenthal v. United States (332 U.S. 539)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided December 22, 1947 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 332 U.S. 539 · 68 S. Ct. 248
- Decided
- December 22, 1947
- Term
- October Term 1947
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Rutledge
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Rutledge delivered the opinion of the Court. The four petitioners and Abel, another defendant, were convicted of conspiring to sell whiskey at prices above the ceiling set by regulations of the Office of Price Administration, in violation of the Emergency Price Control Act. 50 U. S. C. §§ 902 (a), 904 (a) and 925 (b). The charge was made pursuant to the general conspiracy statute, § 37 of the Criminal Code. The convictions were affirmed by the Circuit Court of Appeals, one judge dissenting. 158 F. 2d 883, dissenting opinion at 158 F. 2d 762. Abel has not sought review in this Court. Certiorari was granted as to the other four defendants because we thought important questions were presented concerning the applicability of our recent decision in Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U. S. 750. We did not limit our grant of certiorari to that question, however, and on the record it is inseparably connected with the other issues, which relate to the admissibility and sufficiency of the evidence. Accordingly we have considered all of petitioners’ contentions. The competent proof was clearly sufficient to show that each petitioner had aided in the whiskey’s illegal sale and had conspired with others to do so. The only phase of the case meriting further attention is whether, because of a difference in the state of the proof affecting two groups of defendants, the proof, in…
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