Hugo Black

“ The defendant is entitled to a decision by the trial judge based on that judge's evaluation of the proper evidence. It is no answer to say that the trial judge could have found the defendant guilty solely on the good evidence. He did not and the defendant is entitled to a retrial. The danger of prejudice from inadmissible hearsay was particularly grave in this case since the admissible evidence before the trial court was so grossly inadequate. ”

“ It is contrary to elemental principles of justice to place such power in the hands of any man. [8] At the very least another judge should be called upon to try the contempt charges. Here, besides issuing the orders allegedly disobeyed and then citing petitioner for contempt, the trial judge was intimately involved in earlier proceedings from which the contempt charge developed and in which evidence relevant to that charge was presented. Under such circumstances he would have been superhuman not to have held preconceived views as to petitioner's guilt. ”

“ Since the prosecution offered no admissible evidence at the trial, this obscure remark constitutes the sole case on this point against petitioner. It is the only shred of admissible evidence that the majority has been able to glean from the record. On the other hand, petitioner testified that as far as he knew most of the company's records were stored in the basement of its office and that he had made a diligent search through these records in an effort to produce the material demanded by the subpoena. ”