Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/95126/sinclair-vs-united-states
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 08:16:47+00:00

Document:
1. The chairman and any of the members of the Committee on Public Lands and Surveys of the Senate are empowered to administer oaths to witnesses before the committee. Rev.Stats. § 101. P. 279 U. S. 291 .
2. Rev.Stats. § 102, prescribing punishment for refusal to answer before congressional committees, includes witnesses who voluntarily appear without being summoned. P. 279 U. S. 291 .
3. While the power of inquiry of the respective houses of Congress is an essential and appropriate auxiliary to the legislative function, it must be exerted with due regard for the rights of witnesses; a witness may rightfully refuse to answer where the bounds of the power are exceeded or where the questions asked are not pertinent to the matter under inquiry. McGrain v. Daugherty, 273 U. S. 135 . P. 279 U. S. 291 .
(1) Neither the investigation authorized by the Senate's resolutions nor the question put by the committee related merely to the defendant's private affairs. P. 279 U. S. 294 .
(2) Under Art. IV, § 3 of the Constitution, Congress had plenary powers to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the naval reserves, and the Senate had power to delegate authority to its committee to investigate and report what had been and was being done by executive departments under the leasing Act, the Naval Oil Reserve Act, and the President's order in respect of the reserves, and to make any other inquiry concerning the public domain. P. 279 U. S. 294 .
(3) The validity of the lease and the means by which it had been obtained under existing law were subjects that properly might be investigated in order to determine what, if any, legislation was necessary or desirable in order to recover the leased lands or to safeguard other parts of the domain. P. 279 U. S. 294 .
(4) Neither the joint resolution directing legal proceedings nor the action taken under it operated to divest the Senate or the committee of further power to investigate the actual administration of the land laws; the authority of Congress, directly or through its committees, to require pertinent disclosures in aid of its own constitutional power is not abridged because the information sought to be elicited may also be of use in such suits. P. 279 U. S. 295 .
(5) A refusal of the committee to pass a motion that the examination of defendant should not relate to controversies pending in court, and the statement of one of the members that there was nothing else to examine him about, were not enough to show that the committee intended to depart from the purpose to ascertain whether additional legislation might be advisable. Investigation of the matters involved in suits brought, or to be brought, under the joint resolution might directly aid legislative action. P. 279 U. S. 295 .
through the next session of Congress an earlier resolution empowering the committee to summon and swear witnesses, should not be denied that effect because of mistakes in its reference to the date and number of the earlier resolution. P. 279 U. S. 295 .
(7) The question propounded by the committee was pertinent to matters it was authorized to investigate, relating (a) to the right and equities of the United States as owner of the land leased to the defendant, and (b) to the effect of existing laws concerning oil and other mineral lands and the need for further legislation. P. 279 U. S. 297 .
5. In a prosecution for the offence of refusing to answer a question put to the accused as a witness before a committee of the Senate (R.S. § 102), the burden is upon the United States to show that the question was pertinent to a matter under investigation; any presumption of regularity in that regard is overcome by the presumption of innocence attending the accused at the trial. P. 279 U. S. 296 .
6. In a prosecution for refusal to answer a question before a committee of the Senate, it is the province of the court, and not of the jury, to decide whether the question was pertinent to the subjects covered by the Senate resolutions authorizing the committee's investigation. P. 279 U. S. 298 .
7. In such a prosecution, the fact that the accused acted in good faith on the advice of competent counsel in refusing to answer a question put by the committee is not a defense. P. 279 U. S. 299 .
8. A judgment imposing a single sentence on several counts of an indictment may be affirmed under one count without considering the others if the conviction as to that count be sustained and if the maximum punishment authorized for the offense charged in that count be not exceeded by the sentence. P. 279 U. S. 299 .
April 7, 1922, the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of the Interior made a lease of lands in Reserve No. 3 to the Mammoth Oil Company. This was done by the procurement of the appellant action as the president of the company. The lease purported to grant to the company the right to take oil and gas and contained a provision selling royalty oils to the company. And February 9, 1923, a supplemental contract was made by which the company agreed to furnish storage facilities for the Navy. Mammoth Oil Co. v. United States, 275 U. S. 13 .
April 25, 1922, the same Secretaries made a contract with the Pan-American Petroleum & Transport Company for the sale to it of royalty oils from Reserves 1 and 2. December 11, 1922, another contract was made by them. The purpose of these agreements was to arrange that the company furnish storage facilities for the Navy in exchange for royalty oils to be received by the United States under leases then in force and thereafter to be made. December 11, 1922, the same Secretaries made a lease to the Pan American Petroleum Company purporting to grant to it the right to take oil and gas from Reserve No. 1. Pan American Co. v. United States, 273 U. S. 456 .
"We do not overlook these constitutional limitations which, for the protection of personal rights, must necessarily attend all investigations conducted under the authority of Congress. Neither branch of the legislative department, still less any merely administrative body established by Congress, possesses or can be invested with a general power of making inquiry into the private affairs of the citizen. . . . We said in Boyd v. United States, 116 U. S. 616 , 116 U. S. 630 -- and it cannot be too often repeated -- that the principles that embody the essence of constitutional liberty and security forbid all invasions on the part of the government and its employees of the sanctity of a man's home and the privacies of his life."
Harriman v. Interstate Commerce Commission, 211 U. S. 407 , illustrates the unwillingness of this Court to construe an Act of Congress to authorize any examination of witnesses in respect of their personal affairs. And see United States v. Louisville & Nashville R. Co., 236 U. S. 318 , 236 U. S. 335 .
Amendment would be loath to believe that Congress intended to authorize one of its subordinate agencies to sweep all our traditions into the fire ( Interstate Commerce Commission v. Brimson, 154 U. S. 447 , 154 U. S. 479 ), and to direct fishing expeditions into private papers on the possibility that they may disclose evidence of crime. We do not discuss the question whether it could do so if it tried, as nothing short of the most explicit language would induce us to attribute to Congress that intent. . . . It is contrary to the first principles of justice to allow a search through all the respondents' records, relevant or irrelevant, in the hope that something will turn up."
Congress, in addition to its general legislative power over the public domain, had all the powers of a proprietor, and was authorized to deal with it as a private individual may deal with lands owned by him. United States v. Midwest Oil Co., 236 U. S. 459 , 236 U. S. 474 . The committee's authority to investigate extended to matters affecting the interest of the United States as owner as well as to those having relation to the legislative function.
The reasons for holding relevancy and materiality to be questions of law in cases such as those above referred to apply with equal force to the determination of pertinency arising under § 102. The matter for determination in this case was whether the facts called for by the question were so related to the subjects covered by the Senate's resolutions that such facts reasonably could be said to be "pertinent to the question under inquiry." It would be incongruous and contrary to well established principles to leave the determination of such a matter to a jury. Interstate Commerce Commission v. Brimson, supra, p. 154 U. S. 489 ; Horning v. District of Columbia, 254 U. S. 135 .
6. There is no merit in appellant's contention that he is entitled to a new trial because the court excluded evidence that, in refusing to answer, he acted in good faith on the advice of competent counsel. The gist of the offense is refusal to answer pertinent questions. No moral turpitude is involved. Intentional violation is sufficient to constitute guilt. There was no misapprehension as to what was called for. The refusal to answer was deliberate. The facts sought were pertinent as a matter of law, and § 102 made it appellant's duty to answer. He was bound rightly to construe the statute. His mistaken view of the law is no defense. Armour Packing Co. v. United States, 209 U. S. 56 , 209 U. S. 85 ; Standard Sanitary Mfg. Co. v. United States, 226 U. S. 20 , 226 U. S. 49 .
7. The conviction on the first count must be affirmed. There were ten counts, demurrer was sustained as to four, nolle prosequi was entered in respect of two, and conviction was had on the first, fourth, fifth and ninth counts. As the sentence does not exceed the maximum authorized as punishment for the offense charged in the first count, we need not consider any other count. Abrams v. United States, 250 U. S. 616 , 250 U. S. 619 .

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