Quinn v. United States (349 U.S. 155)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 23, 1955 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 349 U.S. 155 · 75 S. Ct. 668
- Decided
- May 23, 1955
- Term
- October Term 1954
- Vote
- 8–1
- Majority author
- Justice Warren
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Chief Justice Warren delivered the opinion of the Court. Petitioner was convicted of contempt of Congress under 2 U. S. C. § 192 in the District Court for the District of Columbia. Section 192 provides for the punishment of any witness before a congressional committee “who . . . refuses to answer any question pertinent to the question under inquiry . ...” On appeal, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed the conviction and remanded the case for a new trial. Claiming that the Court of Appeals should have directed an acquittal, petitioner applied to this Court for certiorari. We granted the writ because of the fundamental and recurrent character of the questions presented. Pursuant to subpoena, petitioner appeared on August 10, 1949, before a subcommittee of the Committee on Un-American Activities of the House of Representatives. Petitioner was then a member and field representative of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. Also subpoenaed to appear on that day were Thomas J. Fitzpatrick and Frank Panzino, two officers of the same union. At the outset of the hearings, counsel for the committee announced that the purpose of the investigation was to inquire into “the question of Communist affiliation or association of certain members” of the union and “the advisability of tightening present security requirements in industrial…
Excerpt of a 59,633-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.