Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/407/385/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 10:35:06+00:00

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financed union political funds. A legitimate political fund must be separate from the sponsoring union only in the sense that there must be a strict segregation of its monies from union dues and assessments, and solicitation by union officials, although permissible, must be conducted under circumstances plainly indicating that donations are for a political purpose, and that those solicited may decline to contribute without reprisal. Pp. 407 U. S. 401-427.
2. Section 10 may be interpreted to prohibit the use of general union monies for the establishment, administration, or solicitation of contributions for union political funds. By clearly permitting such use, the Federal Election Campaign Act may, therefore, have impliedly repealed § 610. Pp. 407 U. S. 428-432.
3. Even if there has been such an implied repeal, it nevertheless does not require abatement of the prosecution against petitioners because of the federal saving statute, 1 U.S.C. § 109. United States v. Reisinger, 128 U. S. 398, followed. Hamm v. Rock Hill, 379 U. S. 306, distinguished. Pp. 407 U. S. 432-435.
4. The instructions to the jury were clearly erroneous because they permitted the jury to convict without finding that donations to the fund had been actual or effective dues or assessments. The sufficiency of the indictment is left open for determination on remand. Pp. 407 U. S. 435-442.
BRENNAN, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which DOUGLAS, STEWART, WHITE, MARSHALL, and REHNQUIST, JJ., joined. POWELL, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which BURGER, C.J., joined, post, p. 407 U. S. 442. BLACKMUN, J., took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
"For the purposes of this section 'labor organization' means any organization of any kind, or any agency or employee representation committee or plan, in which employees participate and which exist [sic] for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment, or conditions of work. [Footnote 1]"
because of erroneous jury instructions. [Footnote 11] This disposition makes decision of the constitutional issues premature, and we therefore do not decide them. Cf.
political educational activities, including "get out the vote" drives, but were not directly contributed to any candidate or political committee. Thus, PAC had limited its direct contributions in federal campaigns to primaries, to which the Act at the time expressly did not apply, and restricted its activities in the elections themselves to so-called "expenditures," rather than "contributions." The Senate Special Committee on Campaign Expenditures concluded in 1945 that, in these circumstances, there was "no clear-cut violation" by PAC of § 313 of the Corrupt Practices Act. S.Rep. No. 101, supra, at 23. Although there was agreement within the committee that § 313 should be extended to federal primaries and nominating conventions because of their importance in determining final election results, id. at 81-82, [Footnote 13] there was disagreement on whether § 313 should also be amended to proscribe "expenditures" in addition to "contributions." A majority believed that it should not be, in part because the amendment "would tend to limit the rights of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly as guaranteed by the Federal Constitution." Id. at 83. [Footnote 14] Senators Ball and Ferguson, who dissented from this conclusion, nevertheless conceded that even as to "expenditures"
copies of the newspaper, and the union can put such matters in the newspaper if it wants to. The union can separate the payment of dues from the payment for a newspaper if its members are willing to do so, that is, if the members are willing to subscribe to that kind of a newspaper. I presume the members would be willing to do so. A union can publish such a newspaper, or unions can do as was done last year, organize something like the PAC, a political organization, and receive direct contributions, just so long as members of the union know what they are contributing to, and the dues which they pay into the union treasury are not used for such purpose."
view also reflected concern that a broader application of § 610 might raise constitutional questions of invasion of First Amendment freedoms, and he wished particularly to reassure colleagues who had reservations on that score and whose votes were necessary to override a predictable presidential veto, see 93 Cong.Rec. 7485, of the Labor Management Relations Act. [Footnote 18] We conclude, accordingly, that his view of the limited reach of § 610, entitled, in any event, to great weight, is, in this instance, controlling. Cf. Newspaper Pub. Assn. v. NLRB, 345 U. S. 100, 345 U. S. 106-111 (1953); Bus Employees v. Wisconsin Board, 340 U. S. 383, 340 U. S. 392 n. 15 (1951). We therefore hold that § 610 does not apply to union contributions and expenditures from political funds financed in some sense by the voluntary donations of employees. Cf. United States v. Auto Workers, 352 U.S. at 352 U. S. 592; United States v. CIO, 335 U.S. at 335 U. S. 123.
388 U. S. 175, 388 U. S. 194 (1967); NLRB v. Drivers Local Union, 362 U. S. 274, 362 U. S. 291-292 (1960).
are effectively assessed, that is, solicited in circumstances inherently coercive. [Footnote 26] Petitioners, on the other hand, contend that, to be valid, a political fund need not be distinct from the sponsoring union, and, further, that § 610 permits the union to exercise institutional pressure, much as recognized charities do, in soliciting donations. See Brief for Petitioners 71, 73 n. 22.
We think that neither side fully and accurately portrays the attributes of legitimate political funds. We hold that such a fund must be separate from the sponsoring union only in the sense that there must be a strict segregation of its monies from union dues and assessments. [Footnote 27] We hold, too, that, although solicitation by union officials is permissible, such solicitation must be conducted under circumstances plainly indicating that donations are for a political purpose, and that those solicited may decline to contribute without loss of job, union membership, or any other reprisal within the union's institutional power. Thus, we agree with the second half of the Government's position, but reject the first.
Supra at 407 U. S. 406, 407 U. S. 407.
taint of coercion or even any interference. We do not want any money except from those who want to see the reelection of Roosevelt. [Footnote 30]"
After the conference committee had adopted the Hansen amendment, however, Crane inserted in the record a Wall Street Journal article suggesting that the Hansen amendment had been inspired by the AFL-CIO to overrule the Court of Appeals decision in this case by authorizing a union political fund even if it is not separate and distinct from the sponsoring union, and by altering the test of voluntariness to focus on the absence of force, rather than on the contributor's intent to make a donation of his own free and knowing choice. See 118 Cong.Rec. 323-324. [Footnote 38] Crane did not significantly elaborate on the article or specifically endorse each of the particular points it made.
"[117 Cong.Rec. 29329. [Footnote 40]]"
In endorsing PAC in the enactment of § 304 of the Labor Management Relations Act, Congress clearly had in mind PAC's financial structure after July, 1944. Congress, therefore, may have considered that PAC's activities in the future could be financed only from voluntary donations separate from union dues and assessments, except for incidental expenses such as office space and part-time personnel. Alternatively, in view of the emphasis on protecting minority union interests and maintaining a strict segregation of funds, Congress may have thought that all of PAC's activities, including the costs of administration and solicitation of contributions, had to be paid for exclusively from voluntary contributions. The evidence is strong at least that Congress believed the costs of organization of new union political funds had to be financed in that way. See, e.g., S.Rep. No. 101, 79th Cong., 1st Sess., 24 (1945) (statement by Sens. Ball and Ferguson, quoted supra at 407 U. S. 404).
interests predominated [Footnote 42] and "the interest of the minority [was] weakest. . . ." 117 Cong.Rec. 43380.
Thus, § 205 may in one respect have impliedly repealed the substantive law relating to this prosecution. [Footnote 43] But we need not now decide that question, because even if there has been such an implied repeal, it would not affect this prosecution for reasons to which we now turn.
§ 610 that we have rejected in favor of the Government's narrower construction that the prerequisite for a permissible political fund is simply that it not be financed by actual or effective dues or assessments. See supra at 407 U. S. 413-414. On the other hand, we find that the indictment may be read to allege not only that the Pipefitters fund was "a union fund, controlled by the union," but that "contributions to [it] were assessed by the union as part of its dues structure, [and were] collected from non-members in lieu of dues. . . ." For reasons that follow, however, we do not now construe the indictment as making this essential allegation, but leave that question open for determination on remand. We hold now only that the jury instructions failed to require proof of the essential element for conviction, and hence reverse the judgment below.
position that Section 610 . . . prohibits the members, officers, employees, agents, foremen and shop [stewards] of a union from establishing any political organization or fund for the purpose of making contributions and expenditures in connection with [federal] elections . . . [;] . . . whether it is the government's position and theory of the case that the alleged 'regular and systematic collection, receipt, and expenditures of money obtained from working members of Local 562 and from working members of other labor organizations employed under jurisdiction of the defendant Local 562' were voluntary or involuntary collections and contributions. [Footnote 46]"
id. at 56, which the indictment, in the Government's view, impliedly charged in alleging that petitioners "unlawfully, willfully and knowingly did conspire and agree with each other . . . to violate Section 610. . . .'" Id. at 54. The trial court overruled each of petitioners' motions without opinion.
whether the indictment should now be construed in light of the proceedings below to make this allegation is an altogether different question. [Footnote 49] Since this precise question was not addressed below and has not been briefed or argued before us, and since the case must, in any event, be remanded, whereupon the issue may become moot, [Footnote 50] we do not now undertake to decide it. Instead, in the event that the Government chooses to proceed with the indictment before us, petitioners shall have leave to renew their motion to dismiss.
"A great deal of evidence has been introduced on the question of whether the payments into the Pipefitters Voluntary . . . Fund by members of Local 562 and others working under its jurisdiction were voluntary or involuntary. This evidence is relevant for your consideration, along with all other facts and circumstances in evidence, in determining whether the fund is a union fund. However, the mere fact that the payments into the fund may have been made voluntarily by some or even all of the contributors thereto does not, of itself, mean that the money so paid into the fund was not union money."
Supra at 407 U. S. 438.
"In this case, evidence was offered by the Government to the effect that funds were contributed to or on behalf of candidates for federal office and that such funds were paid out upon checks drawn upon the Pipefitters Voluntary Political, Educational, Legislative Charity and Defense Fund. It is necessary, therefore, that the evidence establish that the Pipefitters . . . Fund was in fact, a union fund, that the money therein was union money, and that the real contributor to the candidates was the union. As to this issue, the defendants contend that the fund in question was a bona fide entity separate and apart from the union, established by the voluntary good faith act of members of the pipefitters Local 562 and others, from which contributions to candidates were made on behalf of the persons who created the fund and not on behalf of the union. On the other hand, the Government contends that the fund was a mere artifice or device set up by the defendant and others as a part of the alleged conspiracy to give the outward appearance of being an independent and separate entity, but, in fact, constituting a part of union funds."
"Does § 205 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 [P.L. 92-225] affect the decision in this case, and, if so, with what result? More particularly, does § 205 effect a substantive change in 18 U.S.C. § 610 in any way material to this case, as, for example, by altering any of the attributes of permissible union political organizations, such as the method of organization or administration or the method of solicitation or collection of contributions? If so, must this prosecution abate under the doctrine of United States v. The Schooner Peggy, 1 Cranch 103, and its progeny? Or does the federal saving statute, 1 U.S.C. § 109, nullify any abatement of the prosecution? In answering the latter question, what effect should be given to Hamm v. Rock Hill, 379 U. S. 306?"
"An act is done 'willfully' if done voluntarily and purposely and with the specific intent to do that which the law forbids; that is to say, with bad purpose either to disobey or to disregard the law."
"You also point out [the Attorney General wrote] that committees composed of members of unions are engaged in the solicitation of funds from individual union members, and you assert that committees of this kind 'are as much a labor organization as a union organization itself.' This contention is inconsistent with the provisions of the statute. In amending section 313 of the Corrupt Practices Act, the [War Labor Disputes Act] provided that, for the purposes of the amendment the words 'labor organization' should have the same meaning they have under the National Labor Relations Act. . . . I think it clear that committees of the kind that you describe are not labor organizations within the meaning of this definition, and they would not be recognized as bargaining agencies by the National Labor Relations Board. Even if it were true that these committees were identical with the labor organizations to which their members belong -- which I believe not to be the fact -- there would still be no violation of law because the statute applies to contributions made by labor organizations and in this case the contributions are made by individuals and not by the committees."
See, e.g., 93 Cong.Rec. 6448, 6522-6523 (exchange between Sen. Pepper, who, in opposing § 304, decried it as Republican legislation in contravention of the First Amendment, and Sen. Ellender, who, as a Democratic representative on the conference committee, rose in support of Sen. Taft's construction). See also United States v. CIO, 335 U. S. 106, 335 U. S. 120 (1948).
"As used in this section, the phrase 'contribution or expenditure' shall include any direct or indirect payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit, or gift, of money, or any services, or anything of value to any candidate, compaign [sic] committee, or political party or organization, in connection with any election to any of the offices referred to in this section, including any expenditure in connection with 'get out the vote' activities. Nothing in this section shall preclude an organization from establishing and administering a separate contributory fund for any political purpose, including voter registration or 'get out the vote drives,' if all contributions, gifts, or payments to such fund are made freely and voluntarily, and are unrelated to dues, fees, or other moneys required as a condition of membership in such organization or as a condition of employment."
Following the conference committee report, Crane rose once again in opposition to the Hansen amendment, this time, and for the first time, criticizing the amendment in its treatment of union political funds. The dispute centered then, however, not on whether voluntary funds were permissible, but on exactly what their prerequisites were. See infra at 407 U. S. 422-426.
Brief for the United States 38. As we shall see, infra at 407 U. S. 435-442, the Government's theory in prosecuting this case focused on the first, but not the second, of its arguments here presented.
For the scope of the required segregation of funds, see infra at 407 U. S. 428-432.
"The Supreme Court stated that the other legislative motivation [in addition to the protection of minority interests] for enactment of legislation such as section 610 was the necessity for destroying the influence over elections which corporations exercised through financial contributions. [United States v. CIO, 335 U.S. at 335 U. S. 113.] This consideration would be meaningless if a corporation could make expenditures for activities otherwise forbidden by section 610 by simply obtaining unanimous consent of its shareholders. In the Auto Workers case, the indictment contained no allegation that the expenditure of union funds [to finance television broadcasts designed to influence the electorate at large] was contrary to the wish of members. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court found the indictment sufficient."
In United States v. CIO, this Court, of course, went further than Senator Taft's comments would allow by holding that § 304 did not bar a union from using union funds to publish a periodical, in regular course and for distribution to those accustomed to receiving it, that urged union members to vote for a candidate for Congress. The Court, however, arrived at that construction because the contrary interpretation would create "the gravest doubt" of the statute's constitutionality. 335 U.S. at 335 U. S. 121.
Hearings before the House Committee to Investigate Campaign Expenditures on H.Res. 551, 78th Cong., 2d Sess., 79 (1944). See also id. at 16-17. PAC's method of collection of contributions appears, in large measure, to have been true to Hillman's words, since both its political and voluntary nature were well known. See id. at 51, 76-79, 712-713, 728-729, 800-801, 822-823, 844-845, 851, 864-866, 871, 880, 885-886, 921-925, 928, 935-936, 941, 946, 962, 964, 988, 999, 1017, 1021-1031, 1033-1038, 1041. In some instances complaints were lodged that pressure had been exercised in obtaining donations, and the House Committee noted in its report that in California some PAC monies were taken directly from union treasuries and "that at least one local union . . . , upon vote by its entire membership, levied an assessment of 25 cents per month upon each member. . . ." H.R.Rep. No. 2093, supra, n 13, at 6. This, nevertheless, was recognized as an exception "[to] the general national plan" following Roosevelt's nomination for reelection, under which PAC was generally financed by individual contributions "largely . . . taken by shop stewards outside working hours." Id. at 5. Indeed, the amount of individual contributions actually collected by PAC evidences that it successfully informed CIO members that donations were not mandatory assessments. Cf. L. Overacker, Presidential Campaign Funds 61 (1946). From an estimated CIO membership of five million, PAC might have collected $5 million at the requested rate of $1 a member. Yet the national PAC office, which received 50¢ of each $1 donated, obtained only $376,910.77 in 1944, S Rep. No. 101, supra, n 14, at 23, suggesting contributions by less than 800,000 CIO members. See also H.R.Rep. No. 2739, supra, n 13, at 31 ($218,415.98 received in 1946).
See infra at 407 U. S. 428-429.
Indeed, in a letter to regional PAC directors, the national PAC office itself referred to the organization "as an instrumentality of the Congress of Industrial Organizations." S.Rep. No. 101, supra, n 14, at 22. See also Hearing before the Senate Special Committee to Investigate Presidential, Vice Presidential, and Senatorial Campaign Expenditures on S.Res. 263, 78th Cong., 2d Sess., 19 (1944) (testimony of Sidney Hillman) ("We just speak and act for the C.I.O. organizations"); House Hearings, supra, n 30, at 839-840 (testimony of state PAC president) (local PAC is agent of union local). It is true that Senator Taft stated at one point in the Senate debates that "[t]he PAC is a separate organization which raises its own funds for political purposes, and does so perfectly properly." 93 Cong.Rec. 6437 (1947) (emphasis added). But if meant to indicate anything more than that PAC had a formal identity separate from the CIO, this isolated statement was clearly inconsistent with well known facts about the organization. Moreover, neither Taft nor any of his colleagues appears to have attached any particular significance to the statement. Nor can we, in view of Taft's endorsement of direct union electioneering through political newspapers paid for through subscriptions. See supra at 407 U. S. 406-408, 407 U. S. 416-417. It is also true that the Attorney General, in his letter to Senator Moore in 1944, opined that committees like PAC were not "labor organizations" within the meaning of the War Labor Disputes Act, inasmuch as they were not bargaining agencies. See n 17, supra. But the Senate Campaign Expenditures Committee, implicitly in 1945, and the House Committee, expressly in 1946, rejected that conclusion. See S.Rep. No. 101, supra, n 14, at 23; H.R.Rep. No. 2739, supra, n 13, at 43 (quoted in n 15, supra). See also House Hearings, supra, n 30, at 27 (whether PAC was a "labor organization" "highly debatable" in opinion of PAC counsel).
asserted that, under the Hansen amendment, "union chiefs . . . wouldn't be required to tell members for what purpose the money [solicited] is going"; and quoted an Associate Deputy Attorney General as reporting the Government's position to be "that a contribution to a political fund [must] be not only "voluntary," in the sense of an absence of force, but also knowingly made.'"
"I will say to the gentleman that what he is saying will be the legitimate legislative history, and that what somebody down in the Department of Justice, some Assistant Attorney General's opinion [see n 38, supra], is worth exactly as much as the piece of paper it is printed on, no more and no less."
118 Cong.Rec. 329. More important, Hansen's view that this prosecution would continue was possibly premised, as we have seen, on a mistaken understanding of what § 610 previously provided in terms pertinent to this case. If his understanding was, in fact, mistaken, we would have to assume that Congress would intend the general rule of abatement "applicable as part of the background against which [it] acts," Hamm v. Rock Hill, 379 U. S. 306, 379 U. S. 314 (1964), to prevail.
"In our opinion [the court there explained], the allegation in the indictment that the corporation made an 'expenditure' for the stated purpose necessarily infers [sic] an allegation that general corporate funds were used. Corporate expenditures normally come from a corporation's general funds, and not from some independent fund contributed by shareholders or otherwise obtained."
Compare, e.g., Hagner v. United States, 285 U. S. 427 (1932); United States v. Comyns, 248 U. S. 349 (1919), and Dunlop v. United States, 165 U. S. 486 (1897), with, e.g., United States v. Boston & M. R. Co., 380 U. S. 157, 380 U. S. 159 n. 1 (1965), and Russell v. United States, 369 U. S. 749 (1962).
Although two of the petitioners died pending decision in this case, see n 11, supra, the Government may decide on remand to seek a new indictment against the remaining petitioners. The present indictment charges that the conspiracy continued up to the date of the indictment, May 9, 1968, and that an overt act was committed in furtherance of the conspiracy on July 14, 1967, in which case it does not appear that the five-year statute of limitations governing noncapital offenses has run. See 18 U.S.C. § 3282; Grunewald v. United States, 353 U. S. 391, 353 U. S. 396-397 (1957). See also United States v. Reisinger, 128 U. S. 398 (1888) (indictment valid, though returned after law repealed).
Petitioners offered seven instructions on "voluntariness." Two merely used the term without further definition, while others referred to whether the contributions constituted union dues or assessments or were made by the donors for political purposes. See App. 1096-1100. Hereafter, proper instructions on the question of voluntariness may be framed in terms of the application to the proofs of the language of § 205 of the Federal Election Campaign Act as herein construed. See supra at 407 U. S. 421-427.
Ante at 407 U. S. 409.
Id. at 335 U. S. 115.
Lake County v. Rollins, 130 U. S. 662, 130 U. S. 670-671 (1889); Yates v. United States, 354 U. S. 298, 354 U. S. 305 (1957); United States v. Standard Brewery, 251 U. S. 210, 251 U. S. 217 (1920).

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