Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/339/349/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 18:26:36+00:00

Document:
Respondent was a member of the executive board of an association which was under investigation by the Committee on Un-American Activities of the House of Representatives. The Committee issued subpoenas to each of the members of the executive board, demanding that they produce in the committee room at a stated time certain of the association's records which were in the custody of the executive secretary of the association. The members of the executive board, acting together, had power to direct the executive secretary to produce the records and to remove her from office, but they held no meeting to consider compliance with the subpoena. They appeared in response to the subpoenas, but the records were not produced. In identical prepared statements to the Committee, each asserted that he did not individually have custody of the records, and was therefore unable to comply with the subpoena. Asked whether she personally would permit the Committee to see the books, respondent answered: "I don't think it is pertinent to say what I should do a week from now." She was indicted, tried, and convicted for willful default under R.S. § 102, 2 U.S.C. § 192.
1. The question of the lack of a quorum of the Committee, raised for the first time at the trial, and the question of the admissibility of testimony given before the Committee at the trial for willful default, are governed by the decision in United States v. Bryan, ante p. 339 U. S. 323. P. 339 U. S. 352.
2. The fact that respondent had no individual control over the records was no defense. Pp. 339 U. S. 356-358.
(a) When one accepts an office of joint responsibility, in which compliance with lawful orders requires joint action by the body of which he is a member, he necessarily assumes an individual responsibility to act, within the limits of his power, to bring about compliance with such an order. Pp. 339 U. S. 356-357.
(b) The fact that the organization here involved was an unincorporated association, rather than a corporation, is immaterial. P. 339 U. S. 358.
did not have the further burden of proving that each individual member had not done that which was within his power to bring about compliance with the Committee's order. Pp. 339 U. S. 358-364.
(a) The doctrine that it is not incumbent on the prosecution to adduce positive evidence to support a negative averment the truth of which is fairly indicated by established circumstances and which, if untrue, could be readily disproved by the production of documents or other evidence probably within the defendant's possession or control is applicable here. Pp. 339 U. S. 360-361.
(b) In the absence of evidence that respondent made some effort to bring about compliance with the subpoena or had some excuse for failing to do so, the evidence adduced by the Government amply sustained the conviction. P. 339 U. S. 364.
4. The subpoena was not defective by reason of the fact that it was addressed not to the association by name, but to respondent as a member of the executive board. Pp. 339 U. S. 353-354, n. 4.
84 U.S.App.D.C. 388, 174 F.2d 519, reversed.
Respondent was convicted of willful default under R.S. § 102, 2 U.S.C. § 192, for failure to comply with a subpoena of the Committee on Un-American Activities of the House of Representatives. The Court of Appeals reversed. 84 U.S.App.D.C. 388, 174 F.2d 519. This Court granted certiorari. 338 U.S. 846. Reversed, p. 339 U. S. 365.
which, during 1945 and 1946, was under investigation by the House Committee on Un-American Activities. In furtherance of its investigation, the Committee issued subpoenas on March 29, 1946, to each of the members of the executive board and to Helen R. Bryan, the executive secretary of the association, demanding that they produce certain of the association's records in the Committee's chamber on April 4, 1946. Fleischman and the other members of the board appeared on that date in response to the subpoenas, but did not produce the records. The Committee thereupon reported to the House that the members of the executive board were in contempt of that body. After debate, the House voted to direct the Speaker to certify the Committee's report to the United States District Attorney for legal action.
on Un-American Activities of the House of Representatives was a validly constituted committee of Congress, and was at the time of the defendant's appearance."
The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed, one judge dissenting, 84 U.S.App.D.C. 388, 174 F.2d 519, on the ground that presence of a quorum of the Committee at the time of respondent's appearance was a material question of fact for the jury. The court also divided on the question of whether there was sufficient evidence to support the conviction, a majority holding the evidence sufficient. We granted a writ of certiorari, 338 U.S. 846, to consider these important questions arising under R.S. § 102.
The quorum question is governed by our decision this day in United States v. Bryan, ante, p. 339 U. S. . Like Bryan, respondent testified before the Committee on the return day of the subpoena without making any suggestion of lack of a quorum. That issue was raised for the first time at the trial, two years after her appearance before the Committee, where she had given other reasons for her failure to produce the documents. Under the circumstances disclosed by this record, we think the defense of lack of quorum was not available to her.
The question of the admissibility of her testimony before the House Committee at her trial for willful default is likewise governed by our decision in the Bryan case, where we held that R.S. § 859, 18 U.S.C. § 3486, cannot be read to prevent the introduction of testimony of this kind at a trial for willful default under R.S. § 102.
issued, and April 4, when its members appeared before the Committee, no meeting of the executive board was held to discuss compliance. A number of members of the board met in an attorney's office in New York on April 2, when he gave to each a typewritten statement to read to the Committee.
"I individually do not have possession, custody, or control over any of the material requested in the subpoena which was served upon me. The books, records, and correspondence of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee are in the possession, custody, and control of Miss Helen R. Bryan, the executive secretary of our organization, and she is the legal custodian of the material. Since I do not have either in my possession, custody, or control the books, records, and documents described in the subpoena, I am unable to comply with your order to produce them."
was "not pertinent;" that she would decide only at a meeting of the board.
"appeared before the Congressional Committee in the City of Washington, District of Columbia, on April 4, 1946, but failed to produce the records called for in the subpoenas, as they had power to do, and thereby willfully made default."
As we have pointed out, there is evidence to support the charge that the records were under the joint control of the members of the executive board, and that the individual members, acting together, had power to produce them. It is contended, however, that respondent (in this respect no different from any other member) had no individual control over the records, and that there is thus no evidence that the nonproduction of the records resulted from anything she personally did or omitted to do.
and may be punished for contempt."
as his reason for noncompliance, the Government has the further burden of proving that each individual member had not done that which was within his power to bring about compliance with the Committee's order. It may well be that respondent's prepared statement before the Committee and her answers to the Committee's questions are sufficient in themselves to satisfy that requirement. For they indicate clearly that respondent had assumed no personal duty to do anything. The prepared statement was, of course, a patent evasion of the Committee's demands. While stating that each member of the executive board individually did not have control over the records, it does not deny, as it could not, that the members had power jointly to comply with the subpoenas. Since the subpoenas required that they act jointly -- the previous demands on the chairman and the executive secretary individually having been of no avail -- the statement that the members individually had no power to comply is completely irrelevant.
access to the books, her answer again was an evasion. She said: "I don't think it is pertinent to say what I should do a week from now."
The difficulty with the position is that it is not for her nor any other member of the board to say that she would make up her mind next week. The return day of the subpoena had arrived. No one so much as hinted that there had been no time to act. The members had gathered in an attorney's office on April 2, when they received their statements. There was evidence that some members had gathered informally elsewhere to discuss the question of compliance. In fact, all were present in the anteroom of the Committee's chamber on the morning of April 4. If there had been the slightest bent toward compliance, the opportunities were there. When respondent appeared before the Committee, she was asked, in effect, as of that time, whether she was a party to the joint refusal to produce the records: "Would you now, right here now, give your consent to this committee to [see the books and records]?" As one of the members of the Committee stated to respondent: "That is the main thing, the whole case." Her answer was no answer.
and which, if untrue, could be readily disproved by the production of documents or other evidence probably within the defendant's possession or control."
"The decisions are manifold that, within limits of reason and fairness, the burden of proof may be lifted from the state in criminal prosecutions and cast on a defendant. The limits are in substance these: that the state shall have proved enough to make it just for the defendant to be required to repel what has been proved with excuse or explanation, or at least that, upon a balancing of convenience or of the opportunities for knowledge the shifting of the burden will be found to be an aid to the accuser without subjecting the accused to hardship or oppression."
list is not exhaustive. Other instances may have arisen or may develop in the future where the balance of convenience can be redressed without oppression to the defendant through the same procedural expedient. The decisive considerations are too variable, too much distinctions of degree, too dependent in last analysis upon a common sense estimate of fairness or of facilities of proof, to be crowded into a formula. Once can do no more than adumbrate them; sharper definition must await the specific case as it arises."
It should be emphasized that we are not dealing with the duties of witnesses summoned by one committee, but with the obligations owed by persons summoned by authority of the Senate or House of Representatives to appear before any person or group designated by that authority. Reforms in the practices and procedures of certain committees are vigorously demanded by persons both within and without Congress. We would not be understood in this case as expressing either approval or disapproval of those practices. But the remedy, if any is needed, is certainly not to destroy the effective operation of all committees, which is the necessary result if they cannot compel the disclosure of facts. A subpoena is a sterile document if its orders may be flouted with impunity.
"Instances of the application of this principle can be cited in profusion. The cases that follow are typical examples: King v. Turner, 5 Maule & Sel. 206, where a defendant having game in his possession in violation of a statute whereby possession was generally a crime, was held to have the burden of proving his special qualifications (cf. Yee Hem v. United States, 268 U. S. 178, supra; also Spieres v. Parker, 1 T.R. 144, per Lord Mansfield); Fleming v. People, 27 N.Y. 329, a prosecution for bigamy, where, on proof that the defendant had contracted a second marriage during the lifetime of his first wife, the burden was laid upon him to prove exceptional circumstances that would have made the marriage lawful, and finally such cases as Potter v. Deyo, 19 Wend. 361, 363, and United States v. Turner, 266 F. 248 (typical of a host of others) where a defendant has been subjected to the burden of producing a license or a permit for a business or profession that would otherwise be illegal. Cf. United States v. Hayward, 26 Fed.Cas. 240; Board of Comm'rs v. Merchant, 103 N.Y. 143, 8 N.E. 484."
11 Stat. 155, as amended, R.S. § 102, 2 U.S.C. § 192.
See United States v. Bryan, ante, p. 339 U. S. 323.
This evidence consisted of a resolution passed by the executive board on December 14, 1945, condemning the Committee's investigation and directing Miss Bryan to consult with an attorney with a view toward protecting the records from the Committee, and the minutes of a meeting of February 11, 1946 at which the executive board voted to instruct Dr. Barsky not to produce the records before the Committee, as he had been ordered to do. While respondent did not participate in either of these actions, her knowledge of the Committee's efforts to obtain the records and the board's previous actions with respect thereto was shown by evidence of her attendance of a board meeting in March, 1946, when Dr. Barsky reported concerning his appearance before the Committee on February 13, and the association's attorney was present and talked to the board about its legal position in the matter.
"BY AUTHORITY OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE"
"CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA"
"To the Sergeant-at-Arms, or His Special Messenger: "
"You are hereby commanded to summon Mrs. Ernestina G. Fleischman, 'Voice of Fighting Spain,' 1 Columbus Avenue, New York City, a member of the executive board of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, to be and appear before the Un-American Activities Committee of the House of Representatives of the United States, of which the Honorable John S. Wood is chairman, and to bring with you all books, ledgers, records, and papers relating to the receipt and disbursement of money by or on account of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee or any subsidiary or subcommittee thereof, together with all correspondence and memoranda of communications by any means whatsoever with persons in foreign countries. The said books, papers and records demanded herein are for the period from January 1, 1945 up to and including the date of this subpoena, in their chamber in the city of Washington, on April 4, 1946 at the hour of 10 a.m., then and there to testify touching matters of inquiry committed to said Committee, and [she] is not to depart without leave of said committee."
"Herein fail not, and make return of this summons. . . ."
It is now suggested that this subpoena is defective because addressed not to the association by name, but to respondent as a member of the executive board of the association, and Wilson v. United States, 221 U. S. 361 (1911), and Commissioners v. Sellew, 99 U. S. 624 (1879), are distinguished on that ground. We can think of no clearer way of notifying respondent that she was required to perform her duty as a member of the governing board of the association than to serve an individual subpoena upon her, addressed to her in her official capacity as a member of the executive board, and calling for the production of papers which she knew were under the control of the executive board. This subpoena makes explicit what is merely implicit in subpoenas addressed to an organization by name and served on individual directors, as was done in the Wilson case.
"The CHAIRMAN: There isn't any other authority higher than the executive board?"
"The CHAIRMAN: And on all matters of policy, direction of the activities of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, the executive board is the highest authority?"
"The CHAIRMAN: Now, as a member of that board -- you say you are a member now?"
"The CHAIRMAN: As a member of that board, are you willing, so far as you personally are concerned, as a member of that board are you now willing to permit this committee of Congress to see those books and records called for in that subpoena?"
"Mrs. FLEISCHMAN: I don't know what I would do. It would require a meeting of the board."
There was also testimony that the board had power to transfer custody of the records from Bryan to some other person, and that, in fact, the vote at the February 11 meeting had been on that very question.
For applications of this principle in the analogous situation presented by noncompliance with a mandamus, see State ex rel. Gulf Life Ins. Co. v. City of Live Oak, 126 Fla. 132, 170 So. 608 (1936); Littlefield v. Town of Adel, 151 Ga. 684, 108 S.E. 56 (1921); Smith v. Lott, 156 Ga. 590, 119 S.E. 400 (1923); McCulloch v. State, 174 Ind. 525, 92 N.E. 543 (1910); Middle States Utilities Co. v. City of Osceola, 231 Iowa 462, 1 N.W.2d 643 (1942); Kentucky Culvert Mfg. Co. v. Elliott County Fiscal Court, 239 Ky. 797, 40 S.W.2d 375 (1931); State v. Minneapolis Street R. Co., 154 Minn. 401, 191 N.W. 1004 (1923); Heather v. City of Palmyra, 317 Mo. 1320, 298 S.W. 750 (1927); Commonwealth v. Schmidt, 287 Pa. 150, 134 A. 478 (1926); Butler County v. Pittsburgh, H., B. & N.C. R. Co., 298 Pa. 347, 148 A. 504 (1929).
"The COURT: What is the presentment precisely?"
"Mr. WISE (Government Counsel): The Grand Jury presents that the corporation is in contempt of this court in not obeying the subpoena, that these gentlemen are in contempt of Court in that they have known and had actual notice of the subpoenas issued to the corporation requiring it to produce these books, and, in defiance of this court and of its process, have failed to take any action to have their corporation comply with the process. . . ."
"Mr. ROGGE (counsel for respondent): . . . Let's look at the Wilson case again, which the Court of Appeals passed on [in Barsky v. United States, 83 U.S.App.D.C. 127, 167 F.2d 241, 251]. It says if your members have the right to direct the corporation and fail to take appropriate action; in order to be free of guilt here, did Ernestina have to be a propagandist and go to the board members and say before taking action --"
"The COURT (interposing): When she takes on the responsibility of an executive board member, certain responsibilities flow along with that, when she does it."
"Mr. ROGGE: She is a member of the executive board. The evidence has shown that. . . . The record also shows that what you get down to is that Ernestina, in order not to be guilty here, had to see to it that some sort of an affirmative action was taken, and I do not think that is required even under the Wilson case."
See also Williams v. United States, 78 U.S.App.D.C. 147, 138 F.2d 81 (1943). In Tot v. United States, 319 U. S. 463 (1943), this Court refused to uphold a federal statute creating a presumption that firearms found in the possession of one who has previously been convicted of a crime of violence were received by him in interstate or foreign commerce after July 30, 1938, on the ground that the presumption is "inconsistent with any argument drawn from experience." Id. at 319 U. S. 468.
"On behalf of the directors before the court, it was stated that they had made efforts to obtain the books for production before the grand jury, but that Wilson had declined to surrender them. They presented the minutes of a meeting of the board of directors held on that day at which these directors, [i.e. those who had been served with subpoenas] constituting a majority of the board, had passed a resolution demanding of Wilson the possession of the letterpress copy books called for by the subpoena 'for the production of the same before the Federal grand jury.'"
"The appellant did not attempt to assert any right on [the corporation's] part; his conduct was in antagonism to the corporation, so far as its attitude is shown. A majority of the directors, not including the appellant, appeared before the court and urged their solicitude to comply with the writ. They presented their formal action, taken at a meeting of the board, in which they demanded of the appellant the delivery of the books for production before the grand jury."
Id. at 221 U. S. 376. In considering this practice, it should be noted that, in criminal contempts, as in criminal cases, the presumption of innocence obtains; proof of guilt must be beyond a reasonable doubt, and the defendant may not be compelled to be a witness against himself. Gompers v. Bucks Stove & Range Co., 221 U. S. 418, 221 U. S. 444 (1911); United States v. Goldman, 277 U. S. 229, 277 U. S. 235-236 (1928); Michaelson v. United States, 266 U. S. 42, 266 U. S. 67 (1924).
The proposition that one who tries but fails to obtain compliance with a subpoena requiring the joint action of several persons has made a useless and "empty gesture" which should not be compelled by the courts overlooks the fact that, if enough members of the governing body make the attempt required by the subpoenas, their joint effort will ordinarily be successful. In the Wilson case itself, the difference between imprisonment of the directors for contempt and their acquittal was their "empty gesture" of calling upon Wilson to produce the records. See note 10 supra.
by a subpoena duces tecum. My views on these questions differ so drastically from those of the Court that I shall present them, and the conclusions which they dictate, before turning to the Court's opinion.
"Every person who having been summoned as a witness by the authority of either House of Congress to give testimony or to produce papers . . . willfully makes default, . . . shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor."
This criminal statute is limited, by its terms, to just two types of congressional orders: (1) a subpoena to give testimony, and (2) a subpoena to produce papers. The latter type of order is involved here.
"to sue and labor in order to obtain the possession of any instrument from another for the purpose of its production afterwards by himself. . . ."
it does. I cannot agree to such cavalier expansion of any criminal provision.
Prosecution under R.S. § 102 is thus limited to a range far narrower than is a proceeding for contempt, either in court or at the bar of Congress. And even under the notoriously broad contempt power, punishment is justifiable only when a person has failed to comply with an order specifying precisely what he must do, and when he has power himself to do what is ordered. [Footnote 2/1] Certainly no less precise standard should be established in prosecutions for violation of a criminal statute. Cf. Pierce v. United States, 314 U. S. 306, 314 U. S. 310-311.
The chain of reasoning on which its legal theory hangs appears to be this: Fleischman and other members of the executive board were served with separate subpoenas ordering each to produce papers of the association on April 4; Bryan, the executive secretary, had possession of the papers; the individual subpoenas imposed on each board member a personal duty to do all each could to bring about joint action that would cause production; had Fleischman performed her individual part of this joint task, she might have prevailed on the board to pass a resolution which might have forced Bryan to produce; Fleischman failed to show that she had done all she could to bring about that result; therefore Fleischman was properly convicted of the crime of willfully disobeying the subpoena addressed to her as an individual member of the board.
includes the command that he do "all he can" to bring about joint board action to produce the subpoenaed papers. [Footnote 2/4] This doctrine expands the scope of the subpoena duces tecum far beyond its traditional boundaries, which are outlined in 339 U. S. supra. No precedent for such an expansion can be found in the two cases relied on by the Court.
seem unlikely to secure compliance, Congress can always fall back upon its arsenal of supplementary orders enforced by congressional contempt proceedings: [Footnote 2/9] officers with authority to call a board meeting can be ordered to do so, and board members can be ordered to vote for resolutions calculated to foster production. It can be safely presumed that any organization capable of escaping this barrage would not be brought into line by today's expansion of R.S. § 102. A subpoena is not made "sterile" by holding that it commands only what it says it commands.
In fact, the Court's new doctrine creates a danger far more genuine than what it allegedly avoids. While, in contempt proceedings, a witness in doubt as to just what action is demanded can be given more precise orders before a tribunal decides to punish him for noncompliance, no such flexibility exists in criminal prosecutions under R.S. § 102. As applied to such prosecutions, the sweeping requirement that a witness not having custody or control of subpoenaed documents must do "all he can" to secure their production places him in an unfair dilemma. Caution dictates that he "sue and labor" to obtain the papers, however great and however useless the effort and expense. On the other hand, common sense counsels that he make such practical efforts as would satisfy a reasonable jury -- and not until the jury has spoken will he know whether he guessed right.
B. Even if the theory on which this Court upholds Fleischman's conviction were tenable, it is, as might be expected from its novelty, completely different from the theory on which the case was tried. An essential element in the trial judge's charge was his instruction that the jury could find Fleischman guilty only if it found that she had "acted in concert with other members of the executive board" to prevent production. But the Court, without even attempting to support her conviction on this theory, substitutes a theory involving completely different problems of proof and evidence. [Footnote 2/11] The issue of whether Fleischman had failed to attempt to persuade others to produce was not being tried, and there was no reason for her to introduce evidence concerning it. The question on review is not whether the record as a whole exudes a general impression of guilt, but whether the evidence supports a finding of guilt of the issues presented to the jury by the trial judge's charge, Bollenbach v. United States, 326 U. S. 607, 326 U. S. 614. This Court should heed its mandates forbidding state appellate courts to uphold convictions on any theory materially different from that, on which the case was presented to the jury. See Cole v. Arkansas, 333 U. S. 196, 333 U. S. 201-202.
"shall be used as evidence in any criminal proceeding against him in any Court, except in a prosecution for perjury committed in giving such testimony."
See United States v. Bryan, 339 U. S. 323, 339 U. S. 346.
alleged that "each and all" of the board members had such power. Thus, proof of Fleischman's power to produce the subpoenaed papers is undeniably vital to the Court's theory of the case.
The only evidence tending to show power in the board itself to produce is that it had authority over the policies and activities of the association, and had power to suspend Bryan at any regular board meeting. [Footnote 2/12] Assuming that the board could have ordered Bryan to produce under threat of suspension, the Wilson case demonstrates that prospective obedience to such a potential board order cannot accurately be inferred merely from the supremacy of a board. And this record is barren of any evidence to support a finding that Bryan would have complied on April 4th with a board order.
the Court to say that the "power to produce" which Fleischman criminally failed to exercise was solely some imagined personal ability, unconnected with her official capacity, to attempt to cajole the chairman into calling a meeting or ordering production.
Upon a showing merely that the board controlled the "policies and activities" of the association and that she was a board member, the Court imposes on Fleischman the burden of disproving the crucial allegation of "power to produce" by establishing that she had done "all she could" to bring about production. In effect, it has set up a presumption that every board member automatically has such power, and has saddled Fleischman with the burden of proving her innocence by showing that the presumption should not apply to her. [Footnote 2/14] In the absence of some showing that she had authority to call or an opportunity to vote at an official board meeting, or at least had substantial influence over other board members, this is every bit as arbitrary as the presumption rejected in Tot v.
United States, 319 U. S. 463. [Footnote 2/15] That case directly bars use of such a device to shift the burden of proof, however convenient it would be for the prosecutor. And, without that device, the Government's case was clearly insufficient to support the verdict.
"If you find that the members of the executive board, directly or indirectly, had custody or dominion and control over the records subpoenaed and could have produced the records called for, but willfully failed and refused to do so, and that the defendant Fleischman acted in concert with other members of the executive board, either throughout or at any point, to prevent the committee from getting the subpoenaed records, then you may find the defendant Fleischman guilty, if you find that the other elements hereinafter set out have been proved by the United States beyond a reasonable doubt."
took part in a combined action to withhold records. It has been suggested that she might have asked the Board, or Bryan, to produce the records. But there is no evidence that, if she had asked them, they would have complied. There is no evidence that the nonproduction of the records in the committee room resulted either from anything the appellant did or from anything she omitted to do."
" The Chairman: Mrs. Fleischman; I am going to ask you now for your personal permission. I am requesting you personally to permit this committee of Congress to have access to those books. Will you give it to us or not? So far as you are able to do, will you give it to us?"
" Mrs. Fleischman: That is expressing my opinion, Mr. Chairman. I cannot say what the board will do."
" The Chairman: I am not asking what the board will do. I am asking what you will do."
" Mrs. Fleischman: I do not know, because the thing comes to the board to discuss, and I don't think it is pertinent to say what I should do a week from now. It is a special meeting."
"I know of nothing else in the record that comes nearer than this to supporting an inference that appellant refused to produce the records or expressed unwillingness to produce them."
84 U.S.App.D.C. 388, 390, 174 F.2d 519, 521.
The respondent was summoned to produce papers before a congressional committee, and did not produce them. For this nonaction she was prosecuted as a person who "willfully makes default" in not producing the papers. I believe in giving penal statutes a scope their words would receive "in everyday speech." McBoyle v. United States, 283 U. S. 25, 283 U. S. 26, and see Roschen v. Ward, 279 U. S. 337, 279 U. S. 339. If language in a criminal statute is to be read with the normal meaning of English speech, "willfully makes default" surely conveys the thought of a substantial tie between the nonproduction of papers and the nonaction to which it is attributed. This record is barren of the proof which, under our system of punitive justice, would have warranted a jury to find that respondent was actively or passively responsible for the nonproduction of the papers she was asked to produce.
This conclusion does not imply the slightest relaxation of the duty of obedience to the lawful commands of congressional committees in exercising their power of testimonial compulsion. McGrain v. Daugherty, 273 U. S. 135. But regard for that power does not call for the slightest relaxation of the requirements of our criminal process. A penal statute must not be applied beyond its terms, and the crime defined by it and charged in an indictment must be established by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
It may well be that the House committee should have asked respondent to try to have convened a meeting of the executive board with a view to asking the custodian of the records to produce them. Such a procedure is suggested by what was done in Wilson v. United States, 221 U. S. 361, 221 U. S. 370-371. Had respondent refused she would have subjected herself to a contempt proceeding for disobedience of a command of the committee. But this is not such a proceeding. As to the offense for which she was prosecuted, I agree with Judge Edgerton that an acquittal should have been directed.
The two components of this general principle and their application to this case are discussed in II(A) and II(D) infra.
Whether joint action would have been required by a subpoena addressed to the board is completely irrelevant for the reasons set out in note 4 infra. It should be noted, however, that an order to the board as an entity necessarily implies joint action; one addressed to an individual member does not. Moreover, the former is sufficiently specific if it tells the board exactly what to do; the latter must tell the individual what to do. In either case, the recipient must have power to do what is ordered before punishment is justified.
The string of mandamus cases cited in note 6 of the Court's opinion are equally inapplicable for the same general reason No case cited supports the Court's position.
"Certainly, before one may be punished for contempt for violating a court order, the terms of such order should be clear and specific, and leave no doubt or uncertainty in the minds of those to whom it is addressed."
See also Berry v. Midtown Service Corp., 104 F.2d 107, 111, and Labor Board v. New York Merchandise Co., 134 F.2d 949, 952. In the latter case, the court, in an opinion by Judge Learned Hand, characterizes as "cardinal" the rule that "no one shall be punished for the disobedience of an order which does not definitely prescribe what he is to do." For application of the same general rule to contempt proceedings for enforcement of a court decree, see Terminal R. Assn. v. United States, 266 U. S. 17, 266 U. S. 29.
One count of the indictment actually charged Fleischman and other members of the board with conspiracy. That count was dismissed. As for Fleischman's guilt as an "aider and abettor," that question was submitted to the jury by the trial judge's charge. In affirming, this Court does not even suggest that there was evidence to show that Fleischman had ever aided or encouraged Bryan or anyone else. That Fleischman's conviction cannot be upheld under existing doctrines does not establish the inadequacy of those doctrines for any purpose except convicting one whose guilt as charged has not been proven.
There is not the slightest indication that anything Fleischman could have done even had a prospect of fostering compliance with the subpoena. See 339 U. S. @ Apparently Fleischman's conviction is being upheld because she failed to make some undefined empty gesture.
Even this evidence comes primarily from Fleischman's testimony before the congressional committee, and should therefore be held inadmissible. See United States v. Bryan, 339 U. S. 323, 339 U. S. 346.
The Court intimates that Fleischman could have called a meeting when members of the board were gathered in an attorney's office on April 2d or an informal gathering of members elsewhere. It should be noted that the prosecutor labored valiantly at the trial to establish that Fleischman visited the attorney's office or attended some informal meeting. He failed completely in this effort. Despite repeated questions to several witnesses, not one response was evoked indicating that Fleischman ever saw or communicated with a single board member during the interval between the time she was subpoenaed and the time the members met in the anteroom of the committee. As for the suggestion that Fleischman might have called a meeting in the anteroom of the Committee's chambers, it is strange doctrine to assert that the Committee's command that all members appear was enough to require automatically that each member call a meeting. If that was what the Committee wanted, it could have ordered a meeting itself.
In any event, "opportunity" to call a meeting cannot be equated with official "power" to call a meeting. There is no evidence even intimating that she had such authority.
This theory sharply contrasts with the established principle that corporate and association officials, like other persons, can be held guilty only for their own crime, and not for the crimes of their associates in which there is no proof that they participated. Any contrary doctrine is a startling innovation in the laws of this country. See Brotherhood of Carpenters v. United States, 330 U. S. 395, 330 U. S. 406-407. See also cases collected in Notes, 33 A.L.R. 787; 16 L.R.A.(N.S.) 333; 8 Ann.Cas. 383.
Under the Tot rule, the minimum justification for such a presumption would be general experience that the most insignificant member of a board has power, if she "does all she can," to secure board production of documents held by its custodian. Experience not only fails to support this premise; as anyone familiar with the loose-jointed structure of nonprofit associations should know, most members or most boards are wholly subordinate to the executive secretary and the chairman. This is one of the "many significant respects" in which such associations obviously differ from business corporations. See United States v. White, 322 U. S. 694, 322 U. S. 697. Not a single line in Rossi v. United States, 289 U. S. 89, or Morrison v. California, 291 U. S. 82, supports the "presumption" retroactively created here. As a basis of "power to produce," mere board membership is no substitute for possession, custody or control.

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