John Marshall Harlan II

“ Appellees contend that this Court is without jurisdiction and is thereby precluded from considering the case on its merits. They argue that, absent authorization by statute or rule, the filing of a petition for rehearing by the Government in a criminal case cannot extent the time for appeal. ”

“ The inference is compelling that no difference in treatment is intended between appealable judgments and those reviewable by certiorari, or between criminal defendants and the United States. We are constrained to read these rules as consistent with a traditional and virtually unquestioned practice. ”

“ United States, 297 U.S. 124, 56 S.Ct. 395, 80 L.Ed. 522, in which the defendant, who had seized and carried away a state peace officer attempting to effectuate his arrest, was held subject to prosecution under the statute. Prior to a 1934 amendment, the Federal Kidnaping Act had been applicable only if the person transported was held for ransom or reward. The wording was then changed to encompass persons held 'for ransom or reward or otherwise, except, in the case of a minor, by a parent thereof,' 48 Stat. ”

“ United States, 5 Cir., 304 F.2d 532 (judgment vacated on another ground, 372 U.S. 252, 83 S.Ct. 875, 9 L.Ed.2d 732) , Courts of Appeals have assumed that the applicability of the statute does not turn on the illegality of the ultimate purpose of the kidnaper. No policy considerations support appellees' strained reading of 18 U.S.C. § 1201. A murder committed to accelerate the accrual of one's rightful inheritance is hardly less heinous than one committed to facilitate a theft ”