Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“ We do not think it necessary to discuss the contention that the 5th Amendment to the Constitution requires the indictment to be presented by the grand jury in a body, or that their failure so to present it goes to the jurisdiction of the court. ”

“ At all events, objections of this sort are not to be favored when no prejudice to the defendants is shown; and on the contrary, the fact that the indictment was found and presented to the court is not disputed. As the defendants had no constitutional right to the presence of the grand jury, they were bound to take the first opportunity in their power to object to its absence, and by their failure to do so, as heretofore set forth, they lost whatever rights they may have had. ”

“ The reasons for the requirement, if they ever were very strong, have disappeared, at least in part, and we have no doubt that Congress, like the state of North Carolina, could have done away with it, if it had seen fit to do so instead of remaining silent. ”