Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/346/273/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 18:49:55+00:00

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the lower courts. The Attorney General petitioned this Court to convene in Special Term and to vacate the stay.
Held: the stay granted by MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS is vacated. Pp. 346 U. S. 277-296.
1. MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS had power to issue the stay. Pp. 346 U. S. 285, 346 U. S. 288, 346 U. S. 294.
2. This Court has power to decide, in this proceeding, the question preserved by the stay granted by MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS, and to vacate that stay. Pp. 346 U. S. 286-287.
(a) That the full Court has made no practice of vacating stays issued by single Justices does not prove the nonexistence of the power; it only demonstrates that the circumstances must be unusual before the Court, in its discretion, will exercise its power. P. 346 U. S. 286.
(b) The power exercised in this case derives from the Court's role as the final forum to render the ultimate answer to the question which was preserved by the stay. P. 346 U. S. 286.
(c) In the unusual circumstances of this case, this Court deemed it proper and necessary to convene in Special Term to consider and act upon the Attorney General's urgent application. Pp. 346 U. S. 286-287.
(d) This Court's responsibility to supervise the administration of criminal justice by the federal judiciary includes the duty to see not only that the laws are enforced by fair proceedings, but also that the punishments prescribed by the laws are enforced with a reasonable degree of promptness and certainty. P. 346 U. S. 287.
3. The stay granted by MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS is vacated. Pp. 346 U. S. 288-289.
(a) A stay should issue only if there is a substantial question to be preserved for further proceedings in the courts. P. 346 U. S. 288.
(b) The question whether the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 rendered the District Court powerless in this case to impose the death penalty under the Espionage Act of 1917 is not substantial, and further proceedings to litigate it are unwarranted. Pp. 346 U. S. 285-286, 346 U. S. 289, 346 U. S. 289-290, 346 U. S. 294-296.
4. The Atomic Energy Act did not repeal or limit the penalty provisions of the Espionage Act. Pp. 346 U. S. 287, 346 U. S. 289, 346 U. S. 290, 346 U. S. 294-296.
(a) At least where different proof is required for each offense, a single act or transaction may violate more than one criminal statute. P. 346 U. S. 294.
(b) The partial overlap of two statutes does not work a pro tanto repeal of the earlier act, unless the intention of the legislature to repeal the earlier statute is clear and manifest. Pp. 346 U. S. 294-295.
(c) Instead of repealing the penalty provisions of the Espionage Act of 1917, the Atomic Energy Act, by § 10(b)(6), preserves them in undiminished force. P. 346 U. S. 295.
(d) Since the crux of the charge alleged overt acts committed before the Atomic Energy Act was enacted, that Act cannot cover the offenses charged, and the alleged inconsistency of its penalty provisions with those of the Espionage Act cannot be sustained. Pp. 346 U. S. 295-296.
5. Although the question now urged as being substantial was raised and presented for the first time to MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS by counsel who have never been employed by the Rosenbergs, and who heretofore have not participated in this case, the full Court has considered it on its merits. The Court does not hold in this case that a waiver of this claim precluded its consideration. Pp. 346 U. S. 282-283, 346 U. S. 288-289.
6. In the circumstances of this case, in which the Rosenbergs were represented at their trial and in all subsequent proceedings by able and zealous counsel of their own choice, intervention by a stranger as "next friend," without authorization by the Rosenbergs and through counsel who had never been retained by them, is to be discountenanced. Pp. 346 U. S. 291-292.
For opinion of the Court, delivered by THE CHIEF JUSTICE, see post, p. 346 U. S. 277.
For per curiam opinion, see post, p. 346 U. S. 288.
For concurring opinion of MR. JUSTICE JACKS0N, joined by THE CHIEF JUSTICE, MR. JUSTICE REED, MR. JUSTICE BURTON, MR. JUSTICE CLARK and MR. JUSTICE MINTON, see post, p. 346 U. S. 289.
For concurring opinion of MR. JUSTICE CLARK, joined by THE CHIEF JUSTICE, MR. JUSTICE REED, MR. JUSTICE JACKSON, MR. JUSTICE BURTON and MR. JUSTICE MINTON, see post, p. 346 U. S. 293.
For dissenting opinion of MR. JUSTICE BLACK, see post, p. 346 U. S. 296.
For dissenting opinion of MR. JUSTICE FRANKFURTER, see post, p. 346 U. S. 301.
For dissenting opinion of MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS, see post, p. 346 U. S. 310. For appendix to opinion of MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS containing his opinion granting the stay, see post, p. 346 U. S. 313.
The history of the proceedings in this unusual case is recited in the opinion of the Court, post, pp. 346 U. S. 277-285.
"The Court met in Special Term pursuant to a call by the Chief Justice."
"Present: Mr. Chief Justice Vinson, Mr. Justice Black, Mr. Justice Reed, Mr. Justice Frankfurter, Mr. Justice Douglas, Mr. Justice Jackson, Mr. Justice Burton, Mr. Justice Clark, and Mr. Justice Minton."
" The Court is now convened in Special Term to consider an application by the Attorney General (1) to review the stay of execution of Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Rosenberg, granted by Mr. Justice Douglas on June 17, 1953, or (2) for reconsideration and reaffirmance of this Court's order of June 15, 1953, in No. 1, Mis., Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Rosenberg, petitioners, v. Wilford L. Denno, Warden of Sing Sing Prison, June 1953 Special Term, denying a stay."
" The Special Term convenes with the approval of all the Associate Justices except Mr. Justice Black, who objects."
THE CHIEF JUSTICE and all Associate Justices were present when the decision was announced on June 19, 1953.
A Special Term of the Court was convened upon the Attorney General's application to review a stay of execution in this case issued by MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS.
Our action was unusual. So were the circumstances which led to it. The Court's action should be considered in the context of the full history of the proceedings which have marked this case.
On August 17, 1950, the defendants were indicted for conspiring to commit espionage in wartime, in violation of the Espionage Act of 1917, 50 U.S.C. §§ 32(a), 34. After a lengthy jury trial, they were found guilty, and, on April 5, 1951, they were sentenced to death. Upon appeal, the Court of Appeals affirmed. [Footnote 1] A petition for rehearing was denied.
One week thereafter, a motion was filed in the District Court under § 2255 of the Judicial Code (28 U.S.C.
affirmed. A petition for rehearing was denied. [Footnote 5] Certiorari was again sought here, and denied on May 25, 1953. The stay entered by the Court of Appeals was vacated by this Court on the same date. [Footnote 6] On the same day, a petition for a stay, pending the consideration of a petition for rehearing, to be filed by June 9, 1953, was denied by THE CHIEF JUSTICE. A petition for rehearing was filed and was pending during the last week of the 1952 Term of the Court, the adjournment of the Term having been announced for June 15, 1953.
In the meantime, execution of the sentence was set for the week of June 15th by the District Judge, and two further motions under § 2255 to vacate judgment and sentence were denied in District Court, one on June 1, 1953, and another on June 8, 1953. Those denials were affirmed by the Court of Appeals on June 5 and June 11, 1953, respectively.
by the defendants after our denial of certiorari on May 25, 1953, as to the first motion under § 2255.
pending petition for rehearing as to the May 25, 1953, denial of certiorari was also denied. [Footnote 8] Thus, the Court had, in effect, disposed of all collateral attacks upon the sentence then pending in the courts -- as to the first § 2255 motion by adhering to its original denial of certiorari and as to the three subsequent decisions of the Court of Appeals in the further collateral proceedings by denying a stay, a decision which showed that the Court saw no substantial question in those proceedings to be preserved for its further consideration.
of that day and denied the application. [Footnote 9] The Special Term was then adjourned.
this recitation of facts, we do not hold in this case that a waiver of this claim precluded its consideration.
On the morning of June 17, 1953, MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS denied the stay requested by counsel for the defendants, since it raised questions already passed upon by the Court.
Edelman's counsel raised the claim that the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, 42 U.S.C. § 1810(b)(2) and (3), superseded the Espionage Act and rendered the District Court without power to impose the death sentence. MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS was of the opinion that this contention posed a substantial question; he denied the application for habeas corpus, but granted a stay, effective until the applicability of the Atomic Energy Act could be determined in the District Court and the Court of Appeals.
The Attorney General then applied to the Court, asking that we convene a Special Term of Court and vacate the stay. The Court was convened in Special Term on June 18 1953, MR. JUSTICE BLACK objecting.
Thus we were brought to this particular proceeding. The case was argued for several hours on June 18. The Court then recessed and deliberated in conference for several hours. During the next morning, the Court held another conference, and then met at noon and announced its decision in a per curiam opinion. We vacated the stay.
The Special Term was adjourned. Thereafter, executive clemency was denied. The sentence of death was carried out.
We have recited the history of this unusual case at length because we think a full recitation is necessary to a proper understanding of the decision rendered. We proceed to discuss two questions of power: the power of MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS to issue the stay and the power of this Court to decide, in this proceeding, the question preserved by the stay and the vacation of the stay.
MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS had power to issue the stay. No one has disputed this, and we think the proposition is indisputable.
Stays are part of the "traditional equipment for the administration of justice." Scripps-Howard Radio, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission, 316 U. S. 4, 316 U. S. 9-10 (1942). The individual Justices of this Court have regularly issued them, and the exercise of that power is vital to the proper functioning of our jurisdiction.
"I have serious doubts whether this death sentence may be imposed for this offense except and unless a jury recommends it. The Rosenbergs should have an opportunity to litigate that issue."
"I will not issue the writ of habeas corpus. But I will grant a stay effective until the question of the applicability of the penal provisions of § 10 of the Atomic Energy Act to this case can be determined by the District Court and the Court of Appeals, after which the question of a further stay will be open to the Court of Appeals or to a member of this Court in the usual order."
After hearing argument on this question, we did not entertain the serious doubts which MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS had.
We turn next to a consideration of our power to decide, in this proceeding, the question preserved by the stay. It is true that the full Court has made no practice of vacating stays issued by single Justices, although it has entertained motions for such relief. [Footnote 12] But reference to this practice does not prove the nonexistence of the power; it only demonstrates that the circumstances must be unusual before the Court, in its discretion, will exercise its power.
The power which we exercised in this case derives from this Court's role as the final forum to render the ultimate answer to the question which was preserved by the stay.
Thus, MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS, in issuing the stay, did not act to grant some form of amnesty or last-minute reprieve to the defendants; he simply acted to protect jurisdiction over the case, to maintain the status quo until a conclusive answer could be given to the question which had been urged in the defendants' behalf. In the exercise of our jurisdiction to decide the question which was preserved for decision, it lay within our power to bring the new claim before us and examine its merits without further delay. In considering this question, the Court carried out the limited purpose for which MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS issued the stay.
obvious enough. Ordinarily, the stays of individual Justices should stand until the grounds upon which they have issued can be reviewed through regular appellate processes.
In this case, however, we deemed it proper and necessary to convene the Court to consider the Attorney General's urgent application. MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS denied the petition for habeas corpus. His grant of a stay called for initiation of a new proceeding in the District Court. It followed hard on the heels of our orders denying a rehearing, denying a further stay, and denying a motion for leave to file a petition for habeas corpus in which a stay was requested. The stay issued by MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS was based, of course, on a new claim -- a question which had not been considered in any prior proceeding.
This Court has the responsibility to supervise the administration of criminal justice by the federal judiciary. This includes the duty to see that the laws are not only enforced by fair proceedings, but also that the punishments prescribed by the laws are enforced with a reasonable degree of promptness and certainty. The stay which had been issued promised many more months of litigation in a case which had otherwise run its full course.
The question preserved for adjudication by the stay was entirely legal; there was no need to resort to the factfinding processes of the District Court; it was a question of statutory construction which this Court was equipped to answer. We decided that a proper administration of the laws required the Court to consider that question forthwith.
execution of the District Court's original mandate -- a mandate which had been affirmed on appeal and sustained thereafter despite continuous collateral attack.
More complete statements of the reasons for our decision are set forth in the opinions of MR. JUSTICE JACKSON [Footnote 14] and MR. JUSTICE CLARK. [Footnote 15] We need not reiterate here what has been said in those opinions. It is enough to add, that, in our view, the ultimate decision was clear. Accordingly, we vacated the stay.
344 U.S. 838. The order noted that MR. JUSTICE BLACK was of the opinion that certiorari should be granted.
"Motion for leave to file brief of Dr. W.E.B. Dubois and others as amici curiae denied. Petitions for rehearing denied. Memorandum filed by MR. JUSTICE FRANKFURTER in No. 111. MR. JUSTICE BLACK adheres to his view that the petitions for certiorari should be granted."
"Petitioners are under death sentence, and it is not unreasonable to feel that, before life is taken, review should be open in the highest court of the society which has condemned them. Such right of review was the law of the land for twenty years. By § 6 of the Act of February 6, 1889, 25 Stat. 655, 656, convictions in capital cases arising under federal statutes were appealable here. But, in 1911, Congress abolished the appeal as of right, and, since then, death sentences have come here only under the same conditions that apply to any criminal conviction in a federal court. (§§ 128, 238, 240 and 241 of the Judicial Code, 36 Stat. 1087, 1133, 1157.)"
"The Courts of Appeals are charged by Congress with the duty of reviewing all criminal convictions. These are courts of great authority, and corresponding responsibility. The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit was deeply conscious of its responsibility in this case. Speaking through Judge Frank, it said:"
"Since two of the defendants must be put to death if the judgments stand, it goes without saying that we have scrutinized the record with extraordinary care to see whether it contains any of the errors asserted on this appeal."
"After further consideration, the Court has adhered to its denial of this petition for certiorari. Misconception regarding the meaning of such a denial persists despite repeated attempts at explanation. It means, and all that it means, is that there were not four members of the Court to whom the grounds on which the decision of the Court of Appeals was challenged seemed sufficiently important when judged by the standards governing the issue of the discretionary writ of certiorari. It also deserves to be repeated that the effective administration of justice precludes this Court from giving reasons, however briefly, for its denial of a petition for certiorari. I have heretofore explained the reasons that, for me, also militate against noting individual votes when a petition for certiorari is denied. See Chemical Bank & Trust Co. v. Group of Institutional Investors, 343 U. S. 982."
"Numerous grounds were urged in support of this petition for certiorari; the petition for rehearing raised five additional questions. So far as these questions come within the power of this Court to adjudicate, I do not, of course, imply any opinion upon them. One of the questions, however, first raised in the petition for rehearing, is beyond the scope of the authority of this Court, and I deem it appropriate to say so. A sentence imposed by a United States district court, even though it be a death sentence, is not within the power of this Court to revise."
"Motions for leave to file briefs of National Lawyers Guild and Joseph Brainin et al. for writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit denied. The order of the United States Court of Appeals of February 17, 1953, granting a stay of execution is vacated. MR. JUSTICE BLACK and MR. JUSTICE FRANKFURTER, referring to the positions they took when these cases were here last November, adhere to them. 344 U. S. 889. MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS is of the opinion the petition for certiorari should be granted."
"An application for stay of execution was filed herein on June 12, 1953. It was referred to MR. JUSTICE JACKSON, the appropriate Circuit Justice. MR. JUSTICE JACKSON referred it to the Court for consideration and action, with the recommendation 'that it be set for oral hearing on Monday, June 15, 1953, at which time the parties have agreed to be ready for argument.'"
"Upon consideration of the recommendation, the Court declined to hear oral argument on the application."
"MR. JUSTICE FRANKFURTER and MR. JUSTICE BURTON, agreeing with MR. JUSTICE JACKSON's recommendation, believe that the application should be set for hearing on Monday, June 15, 1953."
"Thereupon, the Court gave consideration to the application for the stay, and denies it, MR. JUSTICE BURTON joining in such denial."
"MR. JUSTICE FRANKFURTER and MR. JUSTICE JACKSON, believing that the application for a stay should not be acted upon without a hearing before the full Court, do not agree that the stay should be denied."
"MR. JUSTICE BLACK is of the opinion that the Court should grant a rehearing and a stay pending final disposition of the case. But since a sufficient number do not vote for a rehearing, he is willing to join those who wish to hear argument on the question of a stay."
"MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS would grant a stay and hear the case on the merits, as he thinks the petition for certiorari and the petition for rehearing present substantial questions. But since the Court has decided not to take the case, there would be no end served by hearing oral argument on the motion for a stay. For the motion presents no new substantial question not presented by the petition for certiorari and by the petition for rehearing."
"Petition for rehearing denied. Mr. Justice Frankfurter deems it appropriate to state once more that the reasons that preclude publication by the Court, as a general practice, of votes on petition for certiorari guide him in all cases, so that it has been his 'unbroken practice not to note dissent from the Court's disposition of petitions for certiorari.' Chemical Bank Co. v. Group of Institutional Investors, 343 U. S. 982; Maryland v. Baltimore Radio Show, 338 U. S. 912; Darr v. Burford, 339 U. S. 200, 339 U. S. 227; Agoston v. Pennsylvania, 340 U.S. 844; Bondholders, Inc. v. Powell, 342 U. S. 921; Rosenberg v. United States, 344 U. S. 889, 345 U.S. 965. Partial disclosure of votes on successive stages of a certiorari proceeding does not present an accurate picture of what took place."
"Mr. Justice Black is of the opinion the petition for rehearing should be granted."
"The motion for leave to file petition for an original writ of habeas corpus is denied. Mr. Justice Black dissents."
"The disposition of an application to this Court for habeas corpus is so rarely to be made by this Court directly that Congress has given the Court authority to transfer such an application to an appropriate district court. 28 U.S.C. § 2241. I do not favor such a disposition of this application because the substance of the allegations now made has already been considered by the District Court for the Southern District of New York and on review by the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Neither can I join the Court in denying the application without more. I would set the application down for hearing before the full Court tomorrow forenoon. Oral argument frequently has a force beyond what the written word conveys."
Counsel for the Rosenbergs was aware of the existence of the Atomic Energy Act long before receiving the suggestion from counsel for Edelman. One argument, inter alia, advanced in the original certiorari petition, which was filed June 7, 1952, was that the sentence of death constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. The requirement of the Atomic Energy Act of an intent to injure the United States as a prerequisite to the death penalty (42 U.S.C. § 1810(b)(2) and (3) and § 1816), was cited in the petition in support of the cruel and unusual punishment argument. In the petition for certiorari, as well as the petition for rehearing, filed October 28, 1952, in regard to other contentions, counsel for the defendants cited Newman, Control of Information Relating to Atomic Energy, 56 Yale L.J. 769. That article deals extensively with the relationship of sentences under the Atomic Energy Act and under the Espionage Act.
"Motion of the petitioners for a further stay of the execution, as set forth in the written motion, is denied."
"On the assumption that the sentences against the Rosenbergs are to be carried out at 11 o'clock tonight, their counsel ask this Court to stay their execution until opportunity has been afforded to them to invoke the constitutional prerogative of clemency. The action of this Court, and the division of opinion in vacating the stay granted by MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS, are, of course, a factor in the situation, which arose within the last hour. It is not for this Court even remotely to enter into the domain of clemency reserved by the Constitution exclusively to the President. But the Court must properly take into account the possible consequences of a stay or of a denial of a stay of execution of death sentences upon making an appeal for executive clemency. Were it established that counsel are correct in their assumption that the sentences of death are to be carried out at 11 p.m. tonight, I believe that it would be right and proper for this Court formally to grant a stay with a proper time limit to give appropriate opportunity for the process of executive clemency to operate. I justifiably assume, however, that the time for the execution has not been fixed as of 11 o'clock tonight. Of course, I respectfully assume that appropriate consideration will be given to a clemency application by the authority constitutionally charged with the clemency function."
"The motion for reconsideration of the question of the Court's power to vacate MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS' stay order and hear oral argument is denied."
"MR. JUSTICE FRANKFURTER desires that it be noted that he too would deny the motion to reconsider the power of this Court to review MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS' order to stay the execution, but not because he thinks the matter is free from doubt. See his dissenting opinion in Ex parte Republic of Peru, 318 U. S. 578, 318 U. S. 590, in connection with Lambert v. Barrett, 157 U. S. 697, and Carper v. Fitzgerald, 121 U. S. 87."
See, e.g., Land v. Dollar, 341 U. S. 737 (1951); Johnson v. Stevenson, 335 U.S. 801 (1948).
Post, p. 346 U. S. 288.
Post, p. 346 U. S. 289.
Post, p. 346 U. S. 293.
We convened a Special Term of the Court to consider an application by the Attorney General (1) to review the stay of execution of Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Rosenberg, granted by MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS on June 17, 1953, or (2) for reconsideration and reaffirmance of this Court's order in No. 1, Misc., June 15 Special Term, 1953, Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Rosenberg, petitioners v. Wilford L. Denno, Warden of Sing Sing Prison, denying a stay. ante, p. 346 U. S. 271.
The Acting Solicitor General agrees, and we do not doubt, that MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS had power to issue the stay in these proceedings. There is no dispute that a stay should issue only if there is a substantial question to be preserved for further proceedings in the courts.
The question which has been and now is urged as being substantial is whether the provisions of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, 42 U.S.C. § 1810(b)(2, 3), rendered the District Court powerless to impose the death sentence under the Espionage Act of 1917, 50 U.S.C. §§ 32(a), 34, under which statute the indictment was laid.
have never been employed by the Rosenbergs, and who heretofore have not participated in this case, the full Court has considered it on its merits.
We think the question is not substantial. We think further proceedings to litigate it are unwarranted. A conspiracy was charged and proved to violate the Espionage Act in wartime. The Atomic Energy Act did not repeal or limit the provisions of the Espionage Act. Accordingly, we vacate the stay entered by MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS on June 17, 1953.
We are entering this order in advance of the preparation of full opinions which will be filed with the Clerk.
Stay granted by Mr. Justice Douglas vacated.
By MR. JUSTICE JACKSON, whom MR. CHIEF JUSTICE VINSON, MR. JUSTICE REED, MR. JUSTICE BURTON, MR. JUSTICE CLARK and MR. JUSTICE MINTON join.
This stay was granted upon such legal grounds that this Court cannot allow it to stand as the basis upon which lower courts must conduct further long-drawn proceedings.
The sole ground stated was that the sentence may be governed by the Atomic Energy Act of August 1, 1946, instead of by the earlier Espionage Act. The crime here involved was commenced June 6, 1944. This was more than two years before the Atomic Energy Act was passed. All overt acts relating to atomic energy on which the Government relies took place as early as January, 1945.
The Constitution, art. I, § 9, prohibits passage of any ex post facto Act. If Congress had tried in 1946 to make transactions of 1944 and 1945 offenses, we would have been obliged to set such an Act aside. To open the door to retroactive criminal statutes would rightly be regarded as a most serious blow to one of the civil liberties protected by our Constitution. Yet the sole ground of this stay is that the Atomic Energy Act may have retrospective application to conspiracies in which the only overt acts were committed before that statute was enacted.
We join in the opinion by MR. JUSTICE CLARK and agree that the Atomic Energy Act does not, by text or intention, supersede the earlier Espionage Act. It does not purport to repeal the earlier Act, nor afford any grounds for spelling out a repeal by implication. Each Act is complete in itself, and each has its own reason for existence and field of operation. Certainly prosecution, conviction, and sentence under the law in existence at the time of the overt acts are not improper. It is obvious that an attempt to prosecute under the later Act would, in all probability, fail.
This stay is not and could not be based upon any doubt that a legal conviction was had under the Espionage Act. Application here for review of the Court of Appeals decision affirming the conviction was refused, 344 U.S. 838, and rehearing later denied, 344 U. S. 889.
was made for stay until they could be heard. The application was referred to the full Court, with the recommendation that the full Court hold immediate hearing and, as an institution, make a prompt and final disposition of all questions. This was supported by four Justices, and failed for want of one more, MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS recording his view that "there would be no end served by hearing oral argument on the motion for a stay." 345 U. S. 989.
Thus, after being in some form before this Court over nine months, the merits of all questions raised by the Rosenbergs' counsel had been passed upon, or foreclosed by denials. However, on this application, we have heard and decided (since it had been the ground for granting the stay) a new contention, despite the irregular manner in which it was originally presented.
This is an important procedural matter of which we disapprove. The stay was granted solely on the petition of one Edelman, who sought to appear as "next friend" of the Rosenbergs. Of course, there is power to allow an appearance in that capacity, under circumstances such as incapacity or isolation from counsel, which make it appropriate to enable the Court to hear a prisoner's case. But, in these circumstances, the order which grants Edelman's standing further to litigate this case in the lower courts cannot be justified.
Edelman is a stranger to the Rosenbergs and to their case. His intervention was unauthorized by them, and originally opposed by their counsel. What may be Edelman's purpose in getting himself into this litigation is not explained, although inquiry was made at the bar. It does not appear that his own record is entirely clear, or that he would be a helpful or chosen champion. See Edelman v. California, 344 U. S. 357.
the Rosenbergs to raise this issue, but were refused. They also inform us that they have eleven more points to present hereafter, although the authorized counsel do not appear to have approved such issues.
The Rosenbergs throughout have had able and zealous counsel of their own choice. These attorneys originally thought this point had no merit, and perhaps also that it would obscure the better points on which they were endeavoring to procure a hearing here. Of course, after a Justice of this Court had granted Edelman standing to raise the question and indicated that he is impressed by its substantiality, counsel adopted the argument, and it became necessary for us to review it. They also shared their time and the counsel table with the Edelman lawyers thus admitted as attorneys-at-large to their case. The lawyers who have ably and courageously fought the Rosenbergs' battle throughout then listened at this bar to the newly imported counsel make an argument which plainly implied lack of understanding or zeal on the part of the retained counsel. They simply had been elbowed out of the control of their case.
Every lawyer familiar with the workings of our criminal courts and the habits of our bar will agree that this precedent presents a threat to orderly and responsible representation of accused persons and the right of themselves and their counsel to control their own cases. The lower court refused to accept Edelman's intrusion, but, by the order in question, must accept him as having standing to take part in, or to take over, the Rosenbergs' case. That such disorderly intervention is more likely to prejudice than to help the representation of accused persons in highly publicized cases is self-evident. We discountenance this practice.
Vacating this stay is not to be construed as indorsing the wisdom or appropriateness to this case of a death sentence.
That sentence, however, is permitted by law, and, as was previously pointed out, is therefore not within this Court's power of revision. 344 U. S. 889, 889.
Seven times now have the defendants been before this Court. In addition, THE CHIEF JUSTICE, as well as individual Justices, have considered applications by the defendants. The Court of Appeals and the District Court have likewise given careful consideration to even more numerous applications than has this Court.
The defendants were sentenced to death on April 5, 1951. Beginning with our refusal to review the conviction and sentence in October, 1952, each of the Justices have given the most painstaking consideration to the case. In fact, all during the past Term of this Court, one or another facet of this litigation occupied the attention of the Court. At a Special Term on June 15, 1953, we denied for the sixth time the defendants' plea. The next day, an application was presented to MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS contending that the penalty provisions of the Atomic Energy Act governed this prosecution, and that, since the jury did not find that the defendants committed the charged acts with intent to injure the United States nor recommend the imposition of the death penalty, the court had no power to impose the sentence of death. After a hearing, MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS, finding that the contention had merit, granted a stay of execution. The Court convened in Special Term to review that determination. Cf. Ex parte Quirin, 317 U. S. 1 (1942).
Human lives are at stake; we need not turn this decision on fine points of procedure or a party's technical standing to claim relief. Nor did MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS lack the power and, in view of his firm belief that the legal issues tendered him were substantial, he even had the duty to grant a temporary stay. But, for me, the short answer to the contention that the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 may invalidate defendants' death sentence is that the Atomic Energy Act cannot here apply. It is true that § 10(b)(2) and (3) of that Act authorizes capital punishment only upon recommendation of a jury and a finding that the offense was committed with intent to injure the United States. 60 Stat. 755, 766, 42 U.S.C. § 1810(b)(2), (3). (Notably, by that statute the death penalty may be imposed for peacetime offenses as well, thus exceeding in harshness the penalties provided by the Espionage Act.) This prosecution, however, charged a wartime violation of the Espionage Act of 1917, under which these elements are not prerequisite to a sentence of death. Where Congress, by more than one statute, proscribes a private course of conduct, the Government may choose to invoke either applicable law: "At least where different proof is required for each offense, a single act or transaction may violate more than one criminal statute." United States v. Beacon Brass Co., 344 U. S. 43, 344 U. S. 45; see also United States v. Noveck, 273 U. S. 202, 273 U. S. 206; Gavieres v. United States, 220 U. S. 338 (1911). Nor does the partial overlap of two statutes necessarily work a pro tanto repealer of the earlier Act. Id.
act],' for they may be merely affirmative, or cumulative, or auxiliary."
There must be "a positive repugnancy between the provisions of the new law and those of the old." United States v. Borden Co., 308 U. S. 188, 308 U. S. 198 (1939). Otherwise, the Government when charging a conspiracy to transmit both atomic and non-atomic secrets would have to split its prosecution into two alleged crimes. Section 10(b)(6) of the Atomic Energy Act itself, moreover, expressly provides that § 10 "shall not exclude the applicable provisions of any other laws . . . ," an unmistakable reference to the 1917 Espionage Act.* Therefore, this section of the Atomic Energy Act, instead of repealing the penalty provisions of the Espionage Act, in fact preserves them in undiminished force. Thus, there is no warrant for superimposing the penalty provisions of the later Act upon the earlier law.
and prosecution of earlier deeds. Grave doubts of unconstitutional ex post facto criminality would have attended any prosecution under that statute for transmitting atomic secrets before 1946. Since the Atomic Energy Act thus cannot cover the offenses charged, the alleged inconsistency of its penalty provisions with those of the Espionage Act cannot be sustained.
Our liberty is maintained only so long as justice is secure. To permit our judicial processes to be used to obstruct the course of justice destroys our freedom. Over two years ago, the Rosenbergs were found guilty by a jury a of a grave offense in time of war. Unlike other litigants, they have had the attention of this Court seven times; each time, their pleas have been denied. Though the penalty is great and our responsibility heavy, our duty is clear.
* See Newman and Miller, The Control of Atomic Energy, p. 235 (1948); Newman, Control of Information Relating to Atomic Energy, 56 Yale L.J. 769, 790 (1947).
"prohibits any agency from placing information in a restricted category under the authority of this or any other law once such information has been released from the category by official action of the Atomic Energy Commission."
"Section 10 also establishes the Commission as the top authority in the Government with reference to what will or will not remain as restricted data. . . ."
to do more at this time than hastily sketch my view on the important questions raised.
First. The Government argues that this Court has power to set aside the stay granted by MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS. I think this is doubtful. I have found no statute or rule of court which permits the full Court to set aside a mere temporary stay entered by a Justice in obedience to his statutory obligations.* Moreover, it is a commonplace for judges to grant stays in vacation. This is a healthy and necessary Court custom. There may have been prior instances where vacation stays of individual Justices have been set aside by the full Court before the next regular term, but no such cases have been pointed out in the Solicitor General's argument, and I have found none. So far as I can tell, the Court's action here is unprecedented.
an individual Justice has power to grant stays where substantial questions are raised. He not merely has power to do so; there is a serious obligation upon him to grant a stay where new substantial questions are presented. Where the life or death of citizens is involved, that obligation is all the heavier. Surely the Court is not here establishing a precedent which will require it to call extra sessions during vacation every time a federal or state official asks it to hasten the electrocution of defendants without affording this Court adequate time or opportunity for exploration and study of serious legal questions. It is not inappropriate to point out that, in Lambert v. Barrett, 157 U. S. 697, decided in 1895 and never overruled, this Court held that it had no jurisdiction over an appeal from a habeas corpus order of a circuit judge entered in chambers. The stay order in this case derives from petitions for habeas corpus, and was entered by MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS in chambers.
alleged conspiracy covered one period of conduct where the 1917 Act plainly governed, and another period of conduct after the Atomic Energy Act went into effect. The Rosenbergs were charged with conspiracy to disclose atomic secrets as well as other kinds of secrets. Under these circumstances, it would more nearly fit into the general canons of construction to hold that a District Court could impose sentence only under the less harsh statute.
I am not unaware of the Government's argument that this Court can and should give full effect to both these statutes, one which deprives the District Court of unconditional power to impose the death sentence and one which grants such unconditional power. This would be a strange argument in any case, but it seems still stranger to me in a case which involves matters of life and death. The stay of MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS is based entirely on his desire to have this matter passed upon in due course, and after proper deliberation in a habeas corpus proceeding brought in district court and followed through to this Court. That is as it should be. Judicial haste is peculiarly out of place where the death penalty has been imposed for conduct part of which took place at a time when the Congress appears to have barred the imposition of the death penalty by district judges acting without a jury's recommendation. And it seems to me that this Court has not had time or opportunity for sufficient study to give the kind of informed decision on this important question it would if the case should take its regular course.
lawyers had "waived" plain error. An illegal execution is no less illegal because a technical ground of "waiver" is assigned to justify it. Compare Bowen v. Johnston, 306 U. S. 19, 306 U. S. 26. After having seen the Court's order, I find that it appears to agree with this view.
Fourth. The inadequate oral arguments before this Court have left me with the firm conviction that the applicability of the penal provisions of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 to this case presents a substantial and serious question. This I think is fully demonstrated by the opinion written by MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS when he granted the stay order, a copy of which is attached by him as an appendix to his opinion, with which opinion I agree. It is my view, based on the limited arguments we have heard, that, after passage of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, it was unlawful for a judge to impose the death penalty for unlawful transmittal of atomic secrets unless such a penalty was recommended by the jury trying the case. I think this question should be decided only after time has been afforded counsel for the Government and for the defendants to make more informed arguments than we have yet heard, and after this Court has had an opportunity to give more deliberation than it has given up to this date. This I think would be more nearly in harmony with the best judicial traditions.
highest court of the state in cases which involve the death penalty was a good practice.
It is not amiss to point out that this Court has never reviewed this record, and has never affirmed the fairness of the trial below. Without an affirmance of the fairness of the trial by the highest court of the land, there may always be questions as to whether these executions were legally and rightfully carried out. I would still grant certiorari, and let this Court approve or disapprove the fairness of the trials.
But the plain words of this section exclude the case here. Those words say this Court may affirm, etc., any "judgment, decree, or order of a court. . . ." But no court order is before us. Nor can the Government take comfort in § 1651. It says only that "The Supreme Court and all courts established by Act of Congress may issue all writs necessary or appropriate in aid of their respective jurisdictions and agreeable to the usages and principles of law." The statute says nothing about dissolution of a stay order.
On an application made after adjournment of the Court, MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS granted a stay of execution of the death sentences of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. On the afternoon of the same day, the Attorney General of the United States filed an application to convene the Court in Special Term with a view to vacating the stay. It was not until late that afternoon that arrangements for convening the Court the following day could be completed. Less than three hours before the Court convened at about noon on Thursday, June 18, and, in the case of some members of the Court, only a few minutes before noon, did the individual members of the Court receive the Government's application and brief bearing on the propriety and reviewability of MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS' order.
entertain the application for a stay; [Footnote 2/1] his power to consider a question, though raised by counsel not of record; his power to consider a question not heretofore urged, when it concerned the legality of a sentence. See Ex parte Lange, 18 Wall. 163.
Thus, the only issue in the case was whether the question on the basis of which MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS acted was patently frivolous or was sufficiently serious to require the judicial process to run its course with the deliberation necessary for confident judgment. That is the sole issue to which this opinion is addressed. All else is irrelevant. Once the Court conceded, as it did, that the substantiality of the question raised before MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS was the sole issue, it became wholly immaterial how many other questions had previously been raised and considered on their merits in the District Court and in the Court of Appeals, or how many times review was sought on these questions and refused by this Court. It was equally immaterial how long a time intervened between the original trial of this case and the present proceeding, and immaterial that this was a last-minute effort almost on the eve of the executions. To allow such irrelevancies to enter the mind not unnaturally tends to bend the judicial judgment in a false direction.
that, in order to enable the Court to adjudicate these issues upon adequate deliberation, this application should be disposed of only after opportunity has been afforded to counsel for both sides to make an adequate study and presentation. In due course, MR. JUSTICE FRANKFURTER will set forth more specifically the grounds for this position."
Painful as it is, I am bound to say that circumstances precluded what to me are indispensable conditions for solid judicial judgment. They precluded me, and now preclude me, from saying that the legal issue that was raised before MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS was without substance. Let me set forth some of the difficulties that immediately arise upon consideration of that issue.
"Bear in mind -- please listen to this, ladies and gentlemen -- that the Government contends that the conspiracy was one to obtain not only atomic bomb information, but other secret and classified information; that the information including the report regarding fire control equipment requested of Elitcher by Sobell or Rosenberg was classified; that the atomic bomb information transmitted by the Rosenbergs was classified as top secret; that, based on Rosenberg's alleged statements to Greenglass, other secret information such as mathematical data on atomic energy for airplanes, information relating to a 'sky platform' project, and other information was obtained by Julius Rosenberg from scientist contacts in the country."
"You must first determine, from all the evidence in the case, relating to the period of time defined in the indictment, whether or not a conspiracy existed."
R. 1552. Only one conspiracy could have been found by the jury to have existed, and that was the conspiracy averred in the indictment, a conspiracy continuous from a date certain in 1944 to a date certain in 1950. The Government could, of course, have charged a conspiracy beginning in 1944 and ending on July 31, 1946, the day before the Atomic Energy Act came into effect. It did not do so. That fact is of decisive importance. The consequences of a conspiracy that was afoot for six years might have been vastly different from those of a conspiracy that terminated within two years -- that is, by the time Congress devised legislation to protect atomic energy secrets.
a conspiracy aimed principally at obtaining atomic secrets and characterized as such by the overt acts alleged, but a conspiracy, I cannot too often repeat, alleged to have been continuous to a date certain in 1950. The Government having tried the Rosenbergs for a conspiracy, continuing from 1944 to 1950, to reveal atomic secrets among other things, it flies in the face of the charge made, the evidence adduced, and the basis on which the conviction was secured now to contend that the terminal date of the Rosenberg Conspiracy preceded the effective date of the Atomic Energy Act.
It thus appears -- although, of course, I would feel more secure in my conviction had I had the opportunity to make a thorough study of the lengthy record in this case -- that the conspiracy with which the Rosenbergs were charged is one falling in part within the terms of the Atomic Energy Act, passed by Congress in 1946 and specifically dealing with classified information pertaining to the recent developments in atomic energy. There remains the question whether the sentence for such a conspiracy could be imposed under the Espionage Act.
to impose a sentence of death was left exclusively to the discretion of the court, while, under the Atomic Energy Act, a sentence of death can be imposed only upon recommendation of the jury.
Surely it needs only statement that, with such a drastic difference in the authority to take life between the Espionage Act and the Atomic Energy Act, it cannot be left within the discretion of a prosecutor whether the judge may impose the death sentence wholly on his own authority, or whether he may do so only upon recommendation of the jury. Nothing can rest on the prosecutor's caprice in placing on the indictment the label of the 1917 Act or of the 1946 Act. To seek demonstration of such an absurdity, in defiance of our whole conception of impersonality in the criminal law, would be an exercise in self-stultification. The indorsement of an indictment, the theory under which the prosecutor is operating, his belief or error as to the statute which supports an indictment or under which sentences may be imposed, are all wholly immaterial. [Footnote 2/3] Williams v. United States, 168 U. S. 382, 168 U. S. 389.
by implication and other empty generalities on statutory construction. Congress does not have to say in so many words that, hereafter, a judge cannot, without jury recommendation, impose a sentence of death on a charge of conspiracy that falls within the Atomic Energy Act. It is enough if, in fact, Congress has provided that, hereafter, such a death sentence is to depend on the will of the jury.
This much, at least, lies on the surface of an analysis of the two statutes. The Reports of this Court are replete with instances of marked division of opinion in construing criminal statutes; doubtful and ambiguous statutory language and like ambiguities in the interpretative materials that led to many of those divisions are certainly not more impressive, to say the least, than the ambiguities and difficulties here. See, e.g., United States v. Dotterweich, 320 U. S. 277; Singer v. United States, 323 U. S. 338; United States v. Petrillo, 332 U. S. 1; United States v. CIO, 335 U. S. 106; United States v. Williams, 341 U. S. 70; United States v. Hood, 343 U. S. 148.
Espionage Act, but seems, as I read it, to point to the view that, on facts like those of this case, the Atomic Energy Act may well be found to apply to the exclusion of the Espionage Act. [Footnote 2/4] Newman, Control of Information Relating to Atomic Energy, 56 Yale L.J. 768.
by the application for a stay which MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS granted. More time was needed than was had for adequate consideration. Arguments by counsel are an indispensable adjunct of the judicial process, and responsible arguments require adequate opportunity for preparation. They must be pressed with the force of partisanship. And because arguments are partisan, judgment further presupposes ample time and an unhurried mind for independent study and reflection by judges as a basis for discussion in conference. Without adequate study, there cannot be adequate reflection; without adequate reflection, there cannot be adequate discussion; without adequate discussion, there cannot be the searching and fruitful interchange of informed minds which is indispensable to wise decision, and which alone can produce compelling opinions. We have not had in this case carefully prepared argument. We have not had what cannot exist without that essential preliminary. We have not had the basis for reaching conclusions and for supporting them in opinions. Can it be said that there was time to go through the process by which cases are customarily decided here?
insufficient time to explore the issue as I believe it should have been explored, nothing I am saying may be taken to intimate that I would now sustain the last claim made in behalf of the Rosenbergs. But I am clear that the claim had substance, and that the opportunity for adequate exercise of the judicial judgment was wanting.
To be writing an opinion in a case affecting two lives after the curtain has been rung down upon them has the appearance of pathetic futility. But history also has its claims. This case is an incident in the long and unending effort to develop and enforce justice according to law. The progress in that struggle surely depends on searching analysis of the past, though the past cannot be recalled, as illumination for the future. Only by sturdy self-examination and self-criticism can the necessary habits for detached and wise judgment be established and fortified so as to become effective when the judicial process is again subjected to stress and strain.
American criminal procedure has its defects, though its essentials have behind them the vindication of long history. But all systems of law, however wise, are administered through men, and therefore may occasionally disclose the frailties of men. Perfection may not be demanded of law, but the capacity to counteract inevitable, though rare, frailties is the mark of a civilized legal mechanism.
Naturally enough, the Government and the Court "do not doubt that MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS had power to issue the stay in this proceeding." How could there be doubt about a power that has existed uninterruptedly ever since Congress gave it by the Act of September 24, 1789? Section 14 of the First Judiciary Act, 1 Stat. 73, 81-82.
It is worth noting that, under the Atomic Energy Act, it is very probably not necessary, since the Act, unlike the Espionage Act, does not make it a requirement, to prove overt acts in furtherance of a conspiracy. Cf. Singer v. United States, 323 U. S. 338. If so, under the Atomic Energy Act, it would not have been necessary to allege or prove an overt act involving atomic espionage subsequent to 1946 in order to obtain a conviction on a conspiracy indictment such as the one here. It is not without significance that the relevance of this point was not considered by the Government in its argument or submission. This is significant not because it discloses a failure of counsel, but because to require consideration of this and other points within twenty-four hours after a complex of problems was first put forward is to presuppose omniscient lawyers.
"In order to determine whether an indictment charges an offense against the United States, designation by the pleader of the statute under which he purported to lay the charge is immaterial. He may have conceived the charge under one statute which would not sustain the indictment, but it may nevertheless come within the terms of another statute. See Williams v. United States, 168 U. S. 382. On the other hand, an indictment may validly satisfy the statute under which the pleader proceeded, but other statutes not referred to by him may draw the sting of criminality from the allegations."
United States v. Hutcheson, 312 U. S. 219, 312 U. S. 229.
"Skillful administration and careful judicial consideration will be needed to reconcile the apparent inconsistencies and to effect the evident intent of Congress -- regardless of the labyrinth of confusion that inadequate drafting has created."
56 Yale L.J. at 791.
"It is reasonable to suppose that Congress did not intend to give the prosecuting attorney the option of moving under the Espionage Act instead of the Atomic Energy Act where an offense involving information relating to atomic energy is specifically described in the latter and only broadly and generically encompassed by the former. On the other hand, this judgment creates an intellectual predicament. Its acceptance might mean that, while the disclosure of information relating to the construction of a machine gun may, under given circumstances, be punishable by death, the disclosure of information relating to the exact construction of an atomic bomb would not, under the same circumstances, be punishable by more than 10 years' imprisonment. But, in spite of its anomalous consequences, the conclusion seems inescapable. When Congress adopted Section 10 of the Atomic Energy Act, it intended to prescribe the exact punishment to be applied for all violations involving the unlawful dissemination of restricted atomic energy data. And, in stating in Section 10(b)(6) that the applicable provisions of other laws were not to be excluded, it meant to guard against possible omissions, rather than to give a prosecutor the option of proceeding under other laws against offenses fully covered by the Atomic Energy Act for the sole reason that, under such other laws, these offenses bore heavier penalties."
56 Yale L.J. at 797-798.
"Differing penalty provisions: The difference can only be resolved by judicial decision. Fortunately, this raises problems within judicial proceedings as such, and does not pose any difficulties or dilemmas for the Commission in administering the Act."
56 Yale L.J. at 799.
presented to this Court and never decided by any court. So I issued the stay order.
Now I have had the benefit of an additional argument and additional study and reflection. Now I know that I am right on the law.
The Solicitor General says in oral argument that the Government would have been laughed out of court if the indictment in this case had been laid under the Atomic Energy Act of 1946. I agree. For a part of the crime alleged and proved antedated that Act. And obviously no criminal statute can have retroactive application. But the Solicitor General misses the legal point on which my stay order was based. It is this -- whether or not the death penalty can be imposed without the recommendation of the jury for a crime involving the disclosure of atomic secrets where a part of that crime takes place after the effective date of the Atomic Energy Act.
The crime of the Rosenbergs was a conspiracy that started prior to the Atomic Energy Act and continued almost 4 years after the effective date of that Act. The overt acts alleged were acts which took place prior to the effective date of the new Act. But that is irrelevant for two reasons. First, acts in pursuance of the conspiracy were proved which took place after the new Act became the law. Second, under Singer v. United States, 323 U. S. 338, no overt acts were necessary; the crime was complete when the conspiracy was proved. And that conspiracy, as defined in the indictment itself, endured almost 4 years after the Atomic Energy Act became effective.
The crime therefore took place in substantial part after the new Act became effective, after Congress had written new penalties for conspiracies to disclose atomic secrets. One of the new requirements is that the death penalty for that kind of espionage can be imposed only if the jury recommends it. And here there was no such recommendation.
"I believe your conduct in putting into the hands of the Russians the A-bomb years before our best scientists predicted Russia would perfect the bomb has already caused, in my opinion, the Communist aggression in Korea, with the resultant casualties exceeding 50,000, and who knows but that millions more of innocent people may pay the price of your treason. Indeed, by your betrayal, you undoubtedly have altered the course of history to the disadvantage of our country."
But the Congress in 1946 adopted new criminal sanctions for such crimes. Whether Congress was wise or unwise in doing so is no question for us. The cold truth is that the death sentence may not be imposed for what the Rosenbergs did unless the jury so recommends.
Some say, however, that, since a part of the Rosenbergs' crime was committed under the old law, the penalties of the old law apply. But it is law too elemental for citation of authority that, where two penal statutes may apply -- one carrying death, the other imprisonment -- the court has no choice but to impose the less harsh sentence.
"It must never be forgotten that the writ of habeas corpus is the precious safeguard of personal liberty, and there is no higher duty than to maintain it unimpaired. Ex parte Lange [18 Wall. 163]. The rule requiring resort to appellate procedure when the trial court has determined its own jurisdiction of an offense is not a rule denying the power to issue a writ of habeas corpus when it appears that nevertheless the trial court was without jurisdiction. The rule is not one defining power, but one which relates to the appropriate exercise of power."
Here, the trial court was without jurisdiction to impose the death penalty, since the jury had not recommended it.
Before the present argument, I knew only that the question was serious and substantial. Now I am sure of the answer. I know deep in my heart that I am right on the law. Knowing that, my duty is clear.
** Attached hereto as an Appendix, post, p. 346 U. S. 313.
on that motion and considered the papers that have been filed. This application does not present points substantially different from those which the Court has already considered in its several decisions to deny review of the case, to deny a stay of execution, and to deny a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. While I differed with the Court, and thought the case should have been reviewed, the Court has spoken, and I bow to its decision. Although I have the power to grant a stay, I could not do so responsibly on grounds the Court has already rejected.
"Whoever, with intent or reason to believe that it is to be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation, communicates, delivers, or transmits, or attempts to, or aids or induces another to, communicate, deliver, or transmit, to any foreign government, or to any faction or party or military or naval force within a foreign country, whether recognized or unrecognized by the United States, or to any representative, officer, agent, employee, subject, or citizen thereof, either directly or indirectly, any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blue print, plan, map, model, note, instrument, appliance, or information relating to the national defense, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than twenty years: Provided, That whoever shall violate the provisions of subsection (a) of this section in time of war shall be punished by death or by imprisonment for not more than thirty years. . . ."
"If two or more persons conspire to violate the provisions of sections two or three of this title and one or more of such persons does any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each of the parties to such conspiracy shall be punished as in said sections provided in the case of the doing of the act the accomplishment of which is the object of such conspiracy. Except as above provided conspiracies to commit offenses under this title shall be punished as provided by section thirty-seven of the Act to codify, revise, and amend the penal laws of the United States approved March fourth, nineteen hundred and nine."
The indictment, which was returned in 1951, charged a conspiracy to violate § 32(a) with an intent to communicate information that would be used to the advantage of a foreign nature, viz., Soviet Russia. The conspiracy was alleged to have continued from June 6, 1944, to and including June 16, 1950. The overt acts of the Rosenbergs which were alleged took place in 1944 and 1945.
"(2) Whoever, lawfully or unlawfully, having possession of, access to, control over, or being entrusted with, any document, writing, sketch, photograph, plan, model, instrument, appliance, note or information involving or incorporating restricted data -- [Footnote 3/1] "
"(A) communicates, transmits, or discloses the same to any individual or person, or attempts or conspires to do any of the foregoing, with intent to injure the United States or with intent to secure an advantage to any foreign nation, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by death or imprisonment for life (but the penalty of death or imprisonment for life may be imposed only upon recommendation of the jury and only in cases where the offense was committed with intent to injure the United States); or by a fine of not more than $20,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both;"
"(B) communicates, transmits, or discloses the same to any individual or person, or attempts or conspires to do any of the foregoing, with reason to believe such data will be utilized to injure the United States or to secure an advantage to any foreign nation, shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than ten years, or both."
United States), or by a fine or of not more than $20,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both."
(Italics added.) 60 Stat. 755, 766, 42 U.S.C. § 1810(b)(2), (3).
-- where the offense was committed with an intent to injure the United States.
Neither of those conditions is satisfied in this case, as the jury did not recommend the death penalty, nor did the indictment charge that the offense was committed with an intent to injure the United States. If the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 is applicable to the prosecution of the Rosenbergs, the District Court unlawfully imposed the death sentence.
The Department of Justice maintains that the Espionage Act is applicable to the indictment because all of the over acts alleged took place before the passage of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946. Petitioner maintains that, since the indictment was returned subsequent to the Atomic Energy Act, and since the conspiracy alleged, though starting prior to that time, continued thereafter, the lighter penalties of the new Act apply.
defense and security," and yet assure "sufficient freedom of interchange between scientists to assure the Nation of continued scientific progress."
The Rosenbergs obviously were not engaged in an exchange of scientific information in the interests of science. But Congress lowered the level of penalties to protect all those who might be charged with the unlawful disclosure of atomic data. And if the Rosenbergs are the beneficiaries, it is merely the result of the application of the new law with an even hand. In any event, Congress prescribed the precise conditions under which the death penalty could be imposed. And all violators -- Communists as well as non-Communists -- are entitled to that protection.
against the Rosenbergs related to acts in pursuance of the conspiracy which occurred after August 1, 1946.
of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 were satisfied. I merely decide that the question is a substantial one which should be decided after full argument and deliberation.
It is important that the country be protected against the nefarious plans of spies who would destroy us.
It is also important that before we allow human lives to be snuffed out we be sure -- emphatically sure -- that we act within the law. If we are not sure, there will be lingering doubts to plague the conscience after the event.
I have serious doubts whether this death sentence may be imposed for this offense except and unless a jury recommends it. The Rosenbergs should have an opportunity to litigate that issue.
I will not issue the writ of habeas corpus. But I will grant a stay effective until the question of the applicability of the penal provisions of § 10 of the Atomic Energy Act to this case can be determined by the District Court and the Court of Appeals, after which the question of a further stay will be open to the Court of Appeals or to a member of this Court in the usual order.
"all data concerning the manufacture or utilization of atomic weapons, the production of fissionable material, or the use of fissionable material in the production of power, but shall not include any data which the Commission from time to time determines may be published without adversely affecting the common defense and security."
"In February, 1950, when the arrest of Klaus Fuchs was publicized, Julius [Rosenberg] went to David [Greenglass] and told him that Fuchs' contact was the man who had got data from Ruth and David in June, 1945; that Fuchs' arrest meant that the Greenglasses' activities would be discovered; and that, therefore, they would have to leave the country (R. 523). These warnings were renewed at the time of the arrest of Harry Gold (R. 525-526, 709) in May, 1950. During that month, Julius gave David $1,000, and promised him more, in order that David and Ruth might discharge their obligations and leave the country (R. 526, 710). In addition, he gave them specific and detailed instructions as to how to get to Mexico, and ultimately to the Soviet Union (R. 526-530, 710)."
"Julius informed the Greenglasses that he and his wife also were going to flee, and that they would meet the Greenglasses in Mexico (R. 529, 713). Rosenberg did, in fact, ascertain from his physician what inoculations were needed for a trip to Mexico (R. 851), and he had passport pictures taken of himself and his family (R. 1427-1429)."
"On May 30, 1950, in accordance with Julius' request, the Greenglasses had six sets of passport pictures taken, five of which they gave to Julius (R. 530-531, 712). The sixth set was retained by Greenglass and introduced in evidence at the trial (R. 531, 712; Ex. 9A, 9B). A week later, Julius visited the Greenglasses' apartment and gave David $4,000 wrapped in brown paper (R. 532, 713; Ex. 10). He asked David to repeat the flight instructions, which David did (R. 532-533). David gave the $4,000 to his brother-in-law, Louis Abel, who, after David's arrest, turned it over to the latter's lawyer (R. 536, 713, 794-795)."
"In June, 1948, [Max] Elitcher decided to leave the Bureau of Ordnance to take a job in New York (R. 256). When he informed Sobell of his plans, the latter urged him not to do anything until he discussed the matter with Rosenberg (R. 256).* Pursuant to arrangements made by Sobell, Elitcher met Rosenberg and Sobell in midtown New York (R. 256-257). When Rosenberg was told about Elitcher's plans, he tried to persuade Elitcher to remain in Washington, stating that he needed a source of information in the Navy Department (R. 257). Rosenberg further stated that he had already made plans for Elitcher to meet a contact in Washington (R. 257). During this conversation, Sobell also attempted to persuade Elitcher to stay at the Bureau of Ordnance; he told Elitcher 'Well, Rosenberg is right, Julie is right; you should do that' (R. 257).**"
"Sobell then left, and Elitcher had dinner with Rosenberg (R. 257). During the course of dinner, Rosenberg said that money could be made available for the purpose of sending Elitcher to school to improve his technical status (R. 258). Elitcher asked Rosenberg how he had got 'started in this venture' (R. 258). Rosenberg replied that. a long time ago. he had decided that this was what he wanted to do; that he made it a point to get close to people in the Communist Party, and kept getting from one person to another until he finally succeeded in approaching a Russian 'who would listen to his proposition concerning this matter of getting information to Russia' (R. 258)."
"A month later, in July, 1948, Elitcher drove with his family from Washington, D.C., to New York City, preparatory to changing his job (R. 259). On the way, he noticed that he was being followed (R. 259-260). Upon his arrival in New York, he proceeded to Sobell's home, where he planned to stay overnight (R. 259). When Elitcher told Sobell of his fear that he had been followed, Sobell became angry, and said that Elitcher should not have come to his house; that he had some valuable information in the house that he should have given Rosenberg some time ago, information that was 'too valuable to be destroyed, and yet too dangerous to keep around' (R. 260-261). Over Elitcher's protests, Sobell insisted the information be delivered to Rosenberg that night. Sobell then took at 35 millimeter film can from his house, and, accompanied by Elitcher, drove to Manhattan. While Elitcher waited in the car, Sobell left to deliver the can to Rosenberg. When Sobell returned, Elitcher asked him what Rosenberg though about his being followed (R. 261). Sobell replied that Rosenberg said that he had 'once talked to Elizabeth Bentley on the phone, but he was pretty sure she didn't know who he was, and therefore everything was all right' (R. 261). The two then returned to Sobell's house (R. 261)."
* Elitcher testified that Sobell said, "Don't do anything before you see me. I want to talk to you about it, and Rosenberg also wants to speak to you about it" (R. 256).
** Elitcher nonetheless did not change his mind, and, shortly afterwards, changed his employment (R. 257, 255).

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