Source: https://m.openjurist.org/481/us/787
Timestamp: 2020-02-20 15:41:02
Document Index: 125016823

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 9', '§ 208', '§ 45', '§ 208', '§ 1', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 208', '§ 208', '§ 208', '§ 2', '§ 3772']

481 US 787 Young v. United States | OpenJurist
481 U.S. 787 - Young v. United States
Gerald J. YOUNG, George Cariste, Sol N. Klayminc and Nathan Helfand, Petitioners
UNITED STATES ex rel. VUITTON ET FILS S.A., et al. Barry Dean KLAYMINC, Petitioner v. UNITED STATES ex rel. VUITTON ET FILS S.A., Louis Vuitton S.A., et al.
In practice, courts can reasonably expect that the public prosecutor will accept the responsibility for prosecution. Indeed, the United States Attorney's Manual § 9-39.318 (1984) expressly provides: "In the great majority of cases the dedication of the executive branch to the preservation of respect for judicial authority makes the acceptance by the U.S. Attorney of the court's request to prosecute a mere formality. . . ." Referral will thus enhance the prospect that investigative activity will be conducted by trained prosecutors pursuant to Justice Department guidelines.11
In this case, the District Court did not first refer the case to the United States Attorney's Office before the appointment of Bainton and Devlin as special prosecutors.12 We need not address the ramifications of that failure, however. Even if a referral had been made, we hold, in the exercise of our supervisory power, that the court erred in appointing as prosecutors counsel for an interested party in the underlying civil litigation.
Because of this unique responsibility, federal prosecutors are prohibited from representing the Government in any matter in which they, their family, or their business associates have any interest. 18 U.S.C. § 208(a).13 Furthermore, the Justice Department has applied to its attorneys the ABA Model Code of Professional Responsibility, 28 CFR § 45.735-1(b) (1986), which contains numerous provisions relating to conflicts of interest.14 The concern that representation of other clients may compromise the prosecutor's pursuit of the Government's interest rests on recognition that a prosecutor would owe an ethical duty to those other clients. "Indeed, it is the highest claim on the most noble advocate which causes the problem fidelity, unquestioned, continuing fidelity to the client." Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen & Enginemen v. United States, 411 F.2d 312, 319 (CA5 1969).
Private attorneys appointed to prosecute a criminal contempt action represent the United States, not the party that is the beneficiary of the court order allegedly violated. As we said in Gompers, criminal contempt proceedings arising out of civil litigation "are between the public and the defendant, and are not a part of the original cause." 221 U.S., at 445, 31 S.Ct., at 499. The prosecutor is appointed solely to pursue the public interest in vindication of the court's authority. A private attorney appointed to prosecute a criminal contempt therefore certainly should be as disinterested as a public prosecutor who undertakes such a prosecution.15
If a Justice Department attorney pursued a contempt prosecution for violation of an injunction benefiting any client of that attorney involved in the underlying civil litigation, that attorney would be open to a charge of committing a felony under § 208(a). Furthermore, such conduct would violate the ABA ethical provisions, since the attorney could not discharge the obligation of undivided loyalty to both clients where both have a direct interest.16 The Government's interest is in dispassionate assessment of the propriety of criminal charges for affronts to the Judiciary. The private party's interest is in obtaining the benefits of the court's order. While these concerns sometimes may be congruent, sometimes they may not. A prosecutor may be tempted to bring a tenuously supported prosecution if such a course promises financial or legal rewards for the private client. Conversely, a prosecutor may be tempted to abandon a meritorious prosecution if a settlement providing benefits to the private client is conditioned on a recommendation against criminal charges.
Regardless of whether the appointment of private counsel in this case resulted in any prosecutorial impropriety (an issue on which we express no opinion), that appointment illustrates the potential for private interest to influence the discharge of public duty. Vuitton's California litigation had culminated in a permanent injunction and consent decree in favor of Vuitton against petitioner Young relating to various trademark infringement activities. This decree contained a liquidated damages provision of $750,000 for violation of the injunction. The prospect of such a damages award had the potential to influence whether Young was selected as a target of investigation, whether he might be offered a plea bargain, or whether he might be offered immunity in return for his testimony. In addition, Bainton was the defendant in a defamation action filed by Klayminc arising out of Bainton's involvement in the litigation resulting in the injunction whose violation was at issue in this case. This created the possibility that the investigation of Klayminc might be shaped in part by a desire to obtain information useful in the defense of the defamation suit. Furthermore, Vuitton had various civil claims pending against some of the petitioners. These claims theoretically could have created temptation to use the criminal investigation to gather information of use in those suits, and could have served as bargaining leverage in obtaining pleas in the criminal prosecution. In short, as will generally be the case, the appointment of counsel for an interested party to bring the contempt prosecution in this case at a minimum created opportunities for conflicts to arise, and created at least the appearance of impropriety.17
The requirement of a disinterested prosecutor is consistent with our recognition that prosecutors may not necessarily be held to as stringent a standard of disinterest as judges. "In an adversary system, [prosecutors] are necessarily permitted to be zealous in their enforcement of the law," Marshall v. Jerrico, Inc., 446 U.S. 238, 248, 100 S.Ct. 1610, 1616, 64 L.Ed.2d 182 (1980). We have thus declined to find a conflict of interest in situations where the potential for conflict on the part of a judge might have been intolerable. See id., at 250-252, 100 S.Ct., at 1617-1618 (fact that sums collected as civil penalties returned to agency to defray administrative costs presented too remote a potential for conflict in agency enforcement efforts). Ordinarily we can only speculate whether other interests are likely to influence an enforcement officer, and it is this speculation that is informed by appreciation of the prosecutor's role. In a case where a prosecutor represents an interested party, however, the ethics of the legal profession require that an interest other than the Government's be taken into account. Given this inherent conflict in roles, there is no need to speculate whether the prosecutor will be subject to extraneous influence.18
As we said in Bloom, "In modern times, procedures in criminal contempt cases have come to mirror those used in ordinary criminal cases." 391 U.S., at 207, 88 S.Ct., at 1485. The requirement of a disinterested prosecutor is consistent with that trend, since "[a] scheme injecting a personal interest, financial or otherwise, into the enforcement process may bring irrelevant or impermissible factors into the prosecutorial decision."19
The use of this Court's supervisory authority has played a prominent role in ensuring that contempt proceedings are conducted in a manner consistent with basic notions of fairness. See, e.g., Cheff, 384 U.S., at 380, 86 S.Ct., at 1526 (requiring jury trial for imposition of contempt sentences greater than six months); Yates v. United States, 356 U.S. 363, 366-367, 78 S.Ct. 766, 768-769, 2 L.Ed.2d 837 (1958) (reducing contempt sentence in light of miscalculation of number of offenses committed); Offutt v. United States, 348 U.S. 11, 13, 17-18, 75 S.Ct. 11, 13, 15, 99 L.Ed. 11 (1954) (contempt conviction reversed in case in which judge involved in personal conflict with contemner). The exercise of supervisory authority is especially appropriate in the determination of the procedures to be employed by courts to enforce their orders, a subject that directly concerns the functioning of the Judiciary. We rely today on that authority to hold that counsel for a party that is the beneficiary of a court order may not be appointed as prosecutor in a contempt action alleging a violation of that order.20
The next question we must confront is whether the Government should have the opportunity to demonstrate that it was harmless error for the court to appoint counsel for an interested party as contempt prosecutor. See Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967).21 We have held that some errors "are so fundamental and pervasive that they require reversal without regard to the facts or circumstances of the particular case." Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 681, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 1436, 89 L.Ed.2d 674 (1986). We find that the appointment of an interested prosecutor is such an error.
It is true that we have indicated that the standards of neutrality for prosecutors are not necessarily as stringent as those applicable to judicial or quasi-judicial officers. See Jerrico, 446 U.S., at 248-250, 100 S.Ct., at 1616-1617.22 This difference in treatment is relevant to whether a conflict is found, however, not to its gravity once identified. We may require a stronger showing for a prosecutor than a judge in order to conclude that a conflict of interest exists. Once we have drawn that conclusion, however, we have deemed the prosecutor subject to influences that undermine confidence that a prosecution can be conducted in disinterested fashion. If this is the case, we cannot have confidence in a proceeding in which this officer plays the critical role of preparing and presenting the case for the defendant's guilt.
Furthermore, appointment of an interested prosecutor creates an appearance of impropriety that diminishes faith in the fairness of the criminal justice system in general. The narrow focus of harmless-error analysis is not sensitive to this underlying concern. If a prosecutor uses the expansive prosecutorial powers to gather information for private purposes, the prosecution function has been seriously abused even if, in the process, sufficient evidence is obtained to convict a defendant. Prosecutors "have available a terrible array of coercive methods to obtain information," such as "police investigation and interrogation, warrants, informers and agents whose activities are immunized, authorized wiretapping, civil investigatory demands, [and] enhanced subpoena power." C. Wolfram, Modern Legal Ethics 460 (1986). The misuse of those methods "would unfairly harass citizens, give unfair advantage to [the prosecutor's personal interests], and impair public willingness to accept the legitimate use of those powers." Ibid. Notwithstanding this concern, the determination whether an error was harmful focuses only on " 'whether there is a reasonable possibility that the [error] complained of might have contributed to the conviction.' " Chapman, supra, 386 U.S., at 23, 87 S.Ct., at 827 (quoting Fahy v. Connecticut, 375 U.S. 85, 86-87, 84 S.Ct. 229, 230, 11 L.Ed.2d 171 (1963)). A concern for actual prejudice in such circumstances misses the point, for what is at stake is the public perception of the integrity of our criminal justice system. "[J]ustice must satisfy the appearance of justice," Offutt, supra, 348 U.S., at 14, 75 S.Ct., at 13, and a prosecutor with conflicting loyalties presents the appearance of precisely the opposite. Society's interest in disinterested prosecution therefore would not be adequately protected by harmless-error analysis, for such analysis would not be sensitive to the fundamental nature of the error committed.23
"In the normal case where a harmless-error rule is applied, the error occurs at trial and its scope is readily identifiable. Accordingly, the reviewing court can undertake with some confidence its relatively narrow task of assessing the likelihood that the error materially affected the deliberations of the jury. But in a case of joint representation of conflicting interests the evil—it bears repeating—is in what the advocate finds himself compelled to refrain from doing, not only at trial but also as to possible pretrial negotiations and in the sentencing process. It may be possible in some cases to identify from the record the prejudice resulting from an attorney's failure to undertake certain trial tasks, but even with a record of the sentencing hearing available it would be difficult to judge intelligently the impact of a conflict on the attorney's representation of a client. And to assess the impact of a conflict of interests on the attorney's options, tactics, and decisions in plea negotiations would be virtually impossible. Thus, an inquiry into a claim of harmless error here would require, unlike most cases, unguided speculation." (Citations omitted.)
I join Justice BRENNAN's opinion. I would go further, however, and hold that the practice—federal or state—of appointing an interested party's counsel to prosecute for criminal contempt is a violation of due process. This constitutional concept, in my view, requires a disinterested prosecutor with the unique responsibility to serve the public, rather than a private client, and to seek justice that is unfettered. See Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen & Enginemen v. United States, 411 F.2d 312, 319 (CA5 1969); see generally Note, Private Prosecutors in Criminal Contempt Actions under Rule 42(b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, 54 Ford.L.Rev. 1141, 1146-1166 (1986).
* With the possible exception of the power to appoint inferior federal officers, which is irrelevant to the present cases,1 the only power the Constitution permits to be vested in federal courts is "[t]he judicial power of the United States." Art. III, § 1. That is accordingly the only kind of power that federal judges may exercise by virtue of their Article III commissions. Muskrat v. United States, 219 U.S. 346, 354-356, 31 S.Ct. 250, 252-253, 55 L.Ed. 246 (1911); United States v. Ferreira, 13 How. 40, 14 L.Ed. 42 (1852).
The judicial power is the power to decide, in accordance with law, who should prevail in a case or controversy. See Art. III, § 2. That includes the power to serve as a neutral adjudicator in a criminal case, but does not include the power to seek out law violators in order to punish them—which would be quite incompatible with the task of neutral adjudication. It is accordingly well established that the judicial power does not generally include the power to prosecute crimes. See United States v. Cox, 342 F.2d 167 (CA5) (en banc), cert. denied, 381 U.S. 935, 85 S.Ct. 1767, 14 L.Ed.2d 700 (1965), and authorities cited therein; 342 F.2d, at 182 (Brown, J., concurring); id., at 185 (Wisdom, J., concurring); see generally United States v. Thompson, 251 U.S. 407, 413-417, 40 S.Ct. 289, 291-293, 64 L.Ed. 333 (1920). Rather, since the prosecution of law violators is part of the implementation of the laws, it is—at least to the extent that it is publicly exercised2—executive power, vested by the Constitution in the President. Art. II, § 2, cl. 1. See Heckler v. Chaney, 470 U.S. 821, 832, 105 S.Ct. 1649, 1656, 84 L.Ed.2d 714 (1985); Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 138, 96 S.Ct. 612, 691, 46 L.Ed.2d 659 (1976).
"Certain implied powers must necessarily result to our Courts of justice from the nature of their institution. But jurisdiction of crimes against the state is not among those powers. To fine for contempt—imprison for contumacy—inforce the observance of order, &c. are powers which cannot be dispensed with in a Court, because they are necessary to the exercise of all others: and so far our Courts no doubt possess powers not immediately derived from statute; but all exercise of criminal jurisdiction in common law cases we are of opinion is not within their implied powers." Id., at 34.
I recognize, however, that the narrow principle of necessity underlying Anderson—that the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches must each possess those powers necessary to protect the functioning of its own processes, although those implicit powers may take a form that appears to be nonlegislative, nonexecutive, or nonjudicial, respectively—does have logical application to the federal courts' contempt powers. But that principle would at most require that courts be empowered to prosecute for contempt those who interfere with the orderly conduct of their business or disobey orders necessary to the conduct of that business (such as subpoenas). It would not require that they be able to prosecute and punish, not merely disruption of their functioning, but disregard of the product of their functioning, their judgments. The correlative of the latter power, in the congressional context, would be an inherent power on the part of Congress to prosecute and punish disobedience of its laws—which neither Anderson nor any rational person would suggest. I can imagine no basis, except self-love, for limiting this extension of the necessity doctrine to the courts alone. And even if illogically limited to the courts it is pernicious enough. In light of the broad sweep of modern judicial decrees, which have the binding effect of laws for those to whom they apply, the notion of judges' in effect making the laws, prosecuting their violation, and sitting in judgment of those prosecutions, summons forth much more vividly than Anderson could ever have imagined the prospect of "the most tyrannical licentiousness." Anderson, supra, at 228.
"[T]he power of a court to make an order carries with it the equal power to punish for a disobedience of that order, and the inquiry as to the question of disobedience has been, from time immemorial, the special function of the court. And this is no technical rule. In order that a court may compel obedience to its orders it must have the right to inquire whether there has been any disobedience thereof. To submit the question of disobedience to another tribunal, be it a jury or another court, would operate to deprive the proceeding of half its efficiency." Id., at 594-595, 15 S.Ct., at 910.
At the time, many considered Debs a dangerous decision, see Dunbar, Government by Injunction, 13 L.Q.Rev. 347 (1897); Gregory, Government by Injunction, 11 Harv.L.Rev. 487 (1898); Lewis, Strikes and Courts of Equity, 46 Am. L.Reg. 1 (1898); Lewis, A Protest Against Administering Criminal Law by Injunction, 42 Am.L.Reg. 879 (1894); and the opinion continued to be criticized long after it was handed down. See Green v. United States, 356 U.S. 165, 193-216, especially 196, and n. 6, 78 S.Ct. 632, 648-660, especially 649, and n. 6, 2 L.Ed.2d 672 (1958) (Black, J., dissenting). Ultimately, its holding was repudiated in Bloom v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 194, 88 S.Ct. 1477, 20 L.Ed.2d 522 (1968), where we ruled that courts are required to afford persons charged with criminal contempt a jury trial to the same extent they are required to afford a jury trial in other criminal cases. But Bloom repudiated more than Debs' holding. It specifically rejected Debs' rationale that courts must have self-contained power to punish disobedience of their judgments, because " '[t]o submit the question of disobedience to another tribunal, be it a jury or another court, would operate to deprive the proceeding of half its efficiency.' " 391 U.S., at 208, 88 S.Ct., at 1485, quoting Debs, supra, 158 U.S., at 595, 15 S.Ct., at 910. The Bloom Court, to the contrary, "place[d] little credence in the notion that the independence of the judiciary hangs on the power to try contempts summarily and [was] not persuaded that the additional time and expense possibly involved in submitting serious contempts to juries will seriously handicap the effective functioning of the courts." Bloom, supra, 391 U.S., at 208-209, 88 S.Ct., at 1485-1486.
The Court argues that Bloom does not control these cases, because "[t]he fact that we have come to regard criminal contempt as 'a crime in the ordinary sense,' Bloom, supra, at 201, 88 S.Ct., at 1481, does not mean that any prosecution of contempt must now be considered an execution of the criminal law in which only the Executive Branch may engage." Ante, at 799—800. To this argument it could be added that Bloom did not draw the distinction relied on here between the narrow Anderson necessity principle, that the courts must be able to conduct their business free of interference, and the broad necessity principle, that courts must be able to do anything required to give effect to their decisions.
Finally, the Court suggests that the various procedural protections that the Constitution requires us to provide contemners undercut the separation-of-powers argument against judicial prosecution. Ante, at 799, n. 9. The reverse argument that the structural provisions of the Constitution were not only sufficient but indeed were the only sure mechanism for protecting liberty—was made against adoption of a Bill of Rights. Ultimately, the people elected to have both checks. The Court is right that disregard of one of these raises less of a prospect of "tyrannical licentiousness" than disregard of both. But that is no argument for disregard of either.
I agree with the Court that the District Judge's error in appointing Bainton and Devlin to prosecute these contempts requires reversal of the convictions. The very argument given for permitting a court to appoint an attorney to prosecute contempts that the United States Attorney might exercise his prosecutorial discretion not to pursue the contemners—makes clear that that is the result required. In light of the discretion our system allows to prosecutors, which is so broad that we ordinarily find decisions not to prosecute unreviewable, see Heckler v. Chaney, 470 U.S. 821, 105 S.Ct. 1649, 84 L.Ed.2d 714 (1985), it would be impossible to conclude with any certainty that these prosecutions would have been brought had the court simply referred the matter to the Executive Branch.
While the potential for prosecutorial impropriety may justify the conclusion that such appointments are inappropriate, it does not justify invalidation of the conviction and sentence in this case. Even where constitutional errors are found to have occurred, this Court has found harmless-error analysis to be appropriate. Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967). As the Court recently noted: "[I]f the defendant had counsel and was tried by an impartial adjudicator, there is a strong presumption that any other errors that may have occurred are subject to harmless-error analysis." Rose v. Clark, 478 U.S. 570, 579, 106 S.Ct. 3101, 3106, 92 L.Ed.2d 460 (1986).
Although this Court has the authority to review a record to evaluate a harmless-error claim, United States v. Hasting, 461 U.S. 499, 510, 103 S.Ct. 1974, 1981, 76 L.Ed.2d 96 (1983), I share the Court's concern that the effect of conflicting interests on the integrity of prosecutorial decisions may be subtle. Accordingly, I would remand these cases to the Court of Appeals—in light of our decision today—to determine whether the error of appointing the private attorney to prosecute the contempt proceeding at issue was harmless.
"Except as permitted by subsection (b) hereof, whoever, being an officer or employee of the executive branch of the United States Government, of any independent agency of the United States, a Federal Reserve bank director, officer, or employee, or of the District of Columbia, including a special Government employee, participates personally and substantially as a Government officer or employee, through decision, approval, disapproval, recommendation, the rendering of advice, investigation, or otherwise, in a judicial or other proceeding, application, request for a ruling or other determination, contract, claim, controversy, charge, accusation, arrest, or other particular matter in which, to his knowledge, he, his spouse, minor child, partner, organization in which he is serving as officer, director, trustee, partner or employee, or any person or organization with whom he is negotiating or has any arrangement concerning prospective employment, has a financial interest—
The situation confronted by the court in United States v. Heldt, 215 U.S.App.D.C. 206, 668 F.2d 1238 (1981), is distinguishable from the situation in this case. In Heldt, defendants sought a reversal of their conviction on the ground of an alleged conflict of interest under 18 U.S.C. § 208(a) on the part of two assistant prosecutors, even though defendants had failed to move for disqualification in the trial court. The Court of Appeals held that in such circumstances defendants were required to show actual prejudice in order to obtain a reversal. Id., at 244-245, 668 F.2d, at 1276-1277. In contrast, because of the bright-line rule we establish in this case, a defendant subject to contempt prosecution by counsel for the beneficiary of the court order allegedly violated would not be alleging the equivalent of a violation of § 208—he or she could point to the established fact of one. Heldt would be analogous only if defendants in that case had obtained a trial court disqualification of the prosecutors in question on the ground that prosecution by them would violate § 208. If those prosecutors had nonetheless continued to participate in the prosecution, defendants would have been in the same position as defendants prosecuted in violation of the rule we establish today—they would have been subject to prosecution by prosecutors whose involvement expressly had been found an intolerable conflict of interest.
Article II, § 2, cl. 2, provides that "Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, . . . in the Courts of Law." (Emphasis added.) There was some suggestion in the Solicitor General's brief that the appointments in the present cases might be authorized by that provision. Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae 17-19, and n. 14. The contention was abandoned at argument, however, Tr. of Oral Arg. 26-28, and properly so, since regardless of whether Congress could "by law" authorize judicial appointment of an officer of this sort—a question we need not decide here—it has in fact not done so. The closest thing to a law cited by the Government was Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 42(b), which, as the Court notes, ante, at 794-795, and n. 6, does not purport to bestow appointment power but rather assumes its pre-existence. In any event the Rule could not confer Article II appointment authority, since it is a Rule of court rather than an enactment of Congress. See 18 U.S.C. § 3772 (1982 ed. and Supp. III).