Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/382/70/
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 16:23:15+00:00

Document:
Despite the order of the Subversive Activities Control Board (SACB), sustained in Communist Party of the United States v. SACB, 367 U. S. 1, the Party failed to register under the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950, and no list of members was filed. The Attorney General, in accordance with § 13(a) and §§ 8(a) and (c) of the Act, asked the SACB to order petitioners, as Party members, to register and submit a registration statement. The SACB did order petitioners to register and submit the registration statement, and the Court of Appeals affirmed these orders, finding the Fifth Amendment self-incrimination issue not ripe for adjudication.
1. Petitioners' claims of the privilege against self-incrimination are ripe for adjudication. Pp. 382 U. S. 73-77.
(a) As distinguished from the Communist Party case, the contingencies upon which the members' duty to register arises have matured, the petitioners have claimed the privilege, and the Attorney General has rejected such claims. Pp. 382 U. S. 74-75.
(b) Petitioners are faced with the choice of registering without a decision on the merits of their claims or subjecting themselves to serious punishment. Pp. 382 U. S. 75-76.
(c) Respondent's attempt to distinguish between claims of privilege relating to the SACB's power to compel registration and submission of a registration statement, concerning which it concedes that the Court of Appeals' holding of prematurity was erroneous, and claims of privilege against "any particular inquiry" on the registration form or registration statement, is without merit. The statute and regulations issued thereunder require petitioners to register and submit the forms fully executed in accordance with present regulations. Pp. 382 U. S. 76-77.
2. The requirement of filing the registration form (IS-52a) is incriminatory within the meaning of the Self-Incrimination Clause because the admission of Party membership, required by the form, might be used as an investigatory lead to or evidence in a criminal prosecution. Pp. 382 U. S. 77-78.
3. The requirement of completing and filing the registration statement (IS-52), considered apart from the registration form, would also be incriminatory because the information might be used as evidence in, or supply leads to, a criminal prosecution. United States v. Sullivan, 274 U. S. 259, distinguished. Pp. 382 U. S. 78-79.
4. The Act's immunity provision, § 4(f), does not save the orders to register from petitioners' Fifth Amendment challenge. Pp. 382 U. S. 79-81.
(a) The immunity provision does not preclude the use of information called for by the registration statement (IS-52) either as evidence or an investigatory lead. P. 382 U. S. 80.
(b) The immunity provision does not preclude the use of an admission of Party membership on the registration form (IS-52a) as an investigatory lead, a use barred by the self-incrimination privilege. P. 382 U. S. 80.
(c) Respondent's argument that, since an order to register follows an SACB finding of Party membership, the admission of Party membership by registering is of no investigatory value, and thus not "incriminatory," would make the right to invoke the privilege depend upon an assessment of information in the Government's possession. This would negate the complete protection from all perils that an immunity statute must provide according to Counselman v. Hitchcock, 142 U. S. 547. P. 81.
it was not known whether they would ever claim the privilege or whether the claim, if asserted, would be honored by the Attorney General. But, with respect to the orders in this case, addressed to named individuals, both these contingencies are foreclosed. Petitioners asserted the privilege in their answers to the Attorney General's petitions; they did not testify at the Board hearings; they again asserted the privilege in the review proceedings in the Court of Appeals. In each instance, the Attorney General rejected their claims. Thus, the considerations which led the Court in Communist Party to hold that the claims on behalf of unnamed officers were premature are not present in this case.
or fail to register and risk onerous and rapidly mounting penalties while awaiting the Government's pleasure whether to initiate a prosecution against them. To ask, in these circumstances, that petitioners await such a prosecution for an adjudication of their self-incrimination claims is, in effect, to contend that they should be denied the protection of the Fifth Amendment privilege intended to relieve claimants of the necessity of making a choice between incriminating themselves and risking serious punishments for refusing to do so.
Indeed, the Government concedes in its brief in this Court that the Court of Appeals' holding of prematurity was erroneous insofar as petitioners' claims of privilege relate to the Board's power to compel the act of registration and the submission of an accompanying registration statement. The brief candidly acknowledges that, since § 14(b) provides for judicial review of a Board order to register, petitioners' claims in that regard, like any other contention that an order is invalid, may be heard and determined by the reviewing court -- thus distinguishing orders that are not similarly reviewable, see Alexander v. United States, 201 U. S. 117; Cobbledick v. United States, 309 U. S. 323. Nevertheless, the Government argues that petitioners' claims are premature insofar as they relate to "any particular inquiry" on Forms IS-52a and IS-52. Two contingencies are hypothesized in support of this contention: (1) that the Attorney General might alter the present forms or (2) that he might accept less than fully completed forms.
are to be fully and completely answered. Moreover, the contingencies hypothesized are irrelevant. Petitioners are obliged to register and to submit registration forms in accordance with presently existing regulations; the mere contingency that the Attorney General might revise the regulations at some future time does not render premature their challenge to the existing requirements. Nor can these requirements be viewed as requiring that petitioners answer -- at the risk of criminal prosecution for error -- only those items which will not incriminate petitioners; full compliance is required. Finally, the Government's argument would do violence to the congressional scheme. The penalties are incurred only upon failure to register as required by final orders and, under § 14(b), orders become final upon completion of judicial review. In so providing, Congress plainly manifested an intention to afford alleged members, prior to criminal prosecution for failure to register, an adjudication of all, not just some, of the claims addressed to the validity of the Board's registration orders. We therefore proceed to a determination of the merits of petitioners' self-incrimination claims.
The risks of incrimination which the petitioners take in registering are obvious. Form IS-52a requires an admission of membership in the Communist Party. Such an admission of membership may be used to prosecute the registrant under the membership clause of the Smith Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2385 (1964 ed.), or under § 4(a) of the Subversive Activities Control Act, 64 Stat. 991, 50 U.S.C. § 783(a) (1964 ed.), to mention only two federal criminal statutes. Scales v. United States, 367 U. S. 203, 367 U. S. 211. Accordingly, we have held that mere association with the Communist Party presents sufficient threat of prosecution to support a claim of privilege. Patricia Blau v. United States, 340 U. S. 159; Irving Blau v.
United States, 340 U. S. 332; Brunner v. United States, 343 U.S. 918; Quinn v. United States, 349 U. S. 155. These cases involved questions to witnesses on the witness stand, but if the admission cannot be compelled in oral testimony, we do not see how compulsion in writing makes a difference for constitutional purposes. Cf. New York ex rel. Ferguson v. Reardon, 197 N.Y. 236, 243244, 90 N.E. 829, 832. It follows that the requirement to accomplish registration by completing and filing Form IS-52a is inconsistent with the protection of the Self-Incrimination Clause.
"[i]f the form of return provided called for answers that the defendant was privileged from making, he could have raised the objection in the return, but could not, on that account, refuse to make any return at all."
274 U.S. at 274 U. S. 263. That declaration was based on the view, first, that a self-incrimination claim against every question on the tax return, or based on the mere submission of the return, would be virtually frivolous, and, second, that to honor the claim of privilege not asserted at the time the return was due would make the taxpayer, rather than a tribunal, the final arbiter of the merits of the claim. But neither reason applies here. A tribunal, the Board, had an opportunity to pass upon the petitioners' self-incrimination claims, and since, unlike a tax return, the pervasive effect of the information called for by Form IS-52 is incriminatory, their claims are substantial, and far from frivolous. In Sullivan, the questions in the income tax return were neutral on their face and directed at the public at large, but here they are directed at a highly selective group inherently suspect of criminal activities. Petitioners' claims are not asserted in an essentially noncriminal and regulatory area of inquiry, but against an inquiry in an area permeated with criminal statutes, where response to any of the form's questions, in context, might involve the petitioners in the admission of a crucial element of a crime.
"that no [immunity] statute which leaves the party or witness subject to prosecution after he answers the criminating question put to him can have the effect of supplanting the privilege . . . ,"
MR. JUSTICE BLACK concurs in the reversal for all the reasons set out in the Court's opinion as well as those set out in his dissent in Communist Party of the United States v. SACB, 367 U. S. 1, 367 U. S. 137.
"the name and last-known address of each individual who was a member of the organization at any time during the period of twelve full calendar months preceding the filing of such statement."
"(a) Any individual who is or becomes a member of any organization concerning which (1) there is in effect a final order of the Board requiring such organization to register under section 786(a) of this title as a Communist action organization, (2) more than thirty days have elapsed since such order has become final, and (3) such organization is not registered under section 786 of this title as a Communist action organization, shall within sixty days after said order has become final, or within thirty days after becoming a member of such organization, whichever is later, register with the Attorney General as a member of such organization."
"Whenever the Attorney General shall have reason to believe that . . . any individual who has not registered under section 787 of this title is, in fact, required to register under such section, he shall file with the Board and serve upon such . . . individual a petition for an order requiring such . . . individual to register pursuant to such subsection or section, as the case may be. Each such petition shall be verified under oath, and shall contain a statement of the facts upon which the Attorney General relies in support of his prayer for the issuance of such order."
"The party aggrieved by any order entered by the Board . . . may obtain a review of such order by filing in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, within sixty days from the date of service upon it of such order, a written petition praying that the order of the Board be set aside. . . . Upon the filing of such petition the court shall have jurisdiction of the proceeding and shall have power to affirm or set aside the order of the Board. . . . The findings of the Board as to the facts, if supported by the preponderance of the evidence, shall be conclusive. . . . The judgment and decree of the court shall be final, except that the same shall be subject to review by the Supreme Court upon certiorari. . . ."
The regulations governing Party registration pursuant to § 7(d), 50 U.S.C. § 786(d), are 28 CFR §§ 11.200 and 11.201, and the forms are IS-51a and IS-51. The regulation governing officers obliged by § 7(h), 50 U.S.C. § 786(h) "to register for" the Party if it failed to register is 28 CFR § 11.205. See Communist Party, 367 U.S. at 367 U. S. 105-110.
The legislative history includes several expressions of doubt that the immunity granted was coextensive with the privilege. See S.Rep. No. 2369, 81st Cong., 2d Sess., Pt. 2, pp. 12-13 (Sen. Kilgore) (Minority Report); 96 Cong.Rec. 14479 (Sen. Humphrey); 96 Cong.Rec. 15199 and 15554 (Sen. Kefauver); see also 96 Cong.Rec. 13739-13740 (Rep. Celler), dealing with a more modified immunity grant in H.R. 9490. See generally Scales v. United States, 367 U.S. at 367 U. S. 212-219 (Court opinion), 367 U. S. 282-287 (dissenting opinion).
"Pursuant to section 8 of the Internal"
NSTRUCTION SHEET -- READ CAREFULLY "
" 1. All individuals required to register under section 8 of the Internal Security Act of 1950 shall use this form for their registration statements."
" 2. Two copies of the statement are to be filed. An additional copy of the statement should be prepared and retained by the Registrant for future references."
" 3. The statement is to be filed with the Internal Security Division, Department of Justice, Washington, D.C."
" 4. All items of the form are to be answered. Where the answer to an item is 'None' or 'inapplicable,' it should be so stated."
" 5. Both copies of the statement are to be signed. The making of any willful false statement or the omission of any material fact is punishable under 18 U.S.Code, 1001."
in such space to a full insert page or pages on which the item number and item shall be restated and the answer given."
" a. Who is a member of any Communist action organization which has failed to file a registration statement as required by Section 7(a) of the Internal Security Act of 1950."
" b. Who is a member of any organization which has registered as a Communist action organization under Section 7(a) of the Internal Security Act of 1950 but which has failed to include the individual's name upon the list of members filed with the Attorney General."
" 1. Name of the Communist action organization of which Registrant was a member within the preceding twelve months."
" 2.(a) Name of Registrant."
" (b) All other names used by Registrant during the past ten years and dates when used."
" (c) Date of birth."
" (d) Place of birth."
" 3.(a) Present business address."
" (b) Present residence address."
" 4. If the Registrant is now or has within the past twelve months been an officer of the Communist action organization listed in response to question number 1: "
" (a) List all offices so held and the date when held."
" (b) Give a description of the duties or functions performed during tenure of office."
entirety true and accurate to the best of his knowledge and belief. The undersigned further represents that he is familiar with the provisions of Section 1001, Title 18, U.S.Code (printed at the bottom of this form). *"
the names and addresses of its members in its registration statement. . . . In case of the failure of any organization to register in accordance with the measure, it would be the duty of the executive officer and the secretary of such organization to register in behalf of the organization. . . . A failure to register . . . subjects the organization and certain of its agents to severe penalties."
"the measure might be held (notwithstanding the legislative finding of clear and present danger) to deny freedom of speech, of the press, and of assembly, and even to compel self-incrimination."
"there would not be any voluntary registrations under the measure. Should a Communist organization fail to register, the burden to proceed would shift to the Attorney General . . . to prove that the organization is required to register."
Hearings on H.R. 5852 before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 80th Cong., 2d Sess., 422 (1948).

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