Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
Page Number: 714

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Unit: $U97

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Cite as: 524 U. S. 666 (1998)

669

Opinion of the Court

Ivars Berzins argued the cause and ﬁled a brief for

respondent.*

Justice Souter delivered the opinion of the Court.†

By administrative subpoena, the Ofﬁce of Special Investi-
gations of the Criminal Division of the United States Depart-
ment of Justice (OSI) sought testimony from the respondent,
Aloyzas Balsys, about his wartime activities between 1940
and 1944 and his immigration to the United States in 1961.
Balsys declined to answer such questions, claiming the Fifth
Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, based on
his fear of prosecution by a foreign nation. We hold that
concern with foreign prosecution is beyond the scope of the
Self-Incrimination Clause.

I

Respondent Aloyzas Balsys is a resident alien living in
Woodhaven, New York, having obtained admission to this
country in 1961 under the Immigration and Nationality Act,
8 U. S. C. § 1201, on an immigrant visa and alien registration
In his appli-
issued at the American Consulate in Liverpool.
cation, he said that he had served in the Lithuanian army
between 1934 and 1940, and had lived in hiding in Plateliai,
Lithuania, between 1940 and 1944. Balsys swore that the
information was true, and signed a statement of understand-
ing that if his application contained any false information
or materially misleading statements, or concealed any mate-
rial fact, he would be subject to criminal prosecution and
deportation.

*Elizabeth Holtzman and Sanford Hausler ﬁled a brief for the World

Jewish Congress et al. as amici curiae urging reversal.

John D. Cline, Barbara E. Bergman, and John L. Pollok ﬁled a brief
for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers et al. as amici
curiae urging afﬁrmance.

†Justice Scalia and Justice Thomas join only Parts I, II, and III of

this opinion.