Hugo Black

“ There a district judge had held that the defendant Weinberg was not entitled to a hearing as to bias of government employees as grand jurors unless the defendant had himself first undertaken to contact the jurors to ascertain from them the existence of bias. The district judge had stated that there was 'nothing to prevent counsel, if he sees fit, contacting those 15 members (of the grand jury) and inquiring only of one subject, whether or not they had any personal bias toward' the defendant. ”

“ Of course it does not cover this case because there is no charge that petitioner attempted improperly to influence the jury or violate § 1503 in any other way. Had there been such a charge petitioner would have been entitled to a trial by jury after indictment by grand jury. We hold that a lawyer is not the kind of 'officer' who can be summarily tried for contempt under 18 U.S.C. § 401 (2) , 18 U.S.C.A. § 401 (2) . [7] The judgment of the Court of Appeals must therefore be reversed. ”

“ Such statements by the same man who reported the 1831 Act to the House of Representatives almost immediately after Judge Peck's acquittal are completely inconsistent with a purpose to treat lawyers as "officers' of the court' subject to summary punishment. We cannot hold that lawyers are subject to the precise kind of summary contempt power that the Act was designedly drawn to bar judges from exercising. ”

“ We find it unnecessary to decide this but it is not out of place to say that no statute or rule of court specifically prohibits conduct such as petitioner's. Petitioner also contends that sending the questionnaire was not an 'official transaction' within the meaning of the Act. However, if we assumed that a lawyer in ordinary practice is an 'official' or 'officer' of the court it would be hard to draw any line between 'official' and 'unofficial' transactions. ”

“ There are strong reasons why attorneys should not be considered 'officers' under § 401 (2) . As we pointed out in the Nye case, the 1831 Act was promptly passed by the Congress after the impeachment proceedings against Judge Peck failed by a senatorial vote of 22 to 21. ”