Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/377/95
Timestamp: 2019-07-16 04:24:01
Document Index: 449146248

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1', '§ 1', '§ 102', '§ 73', '§ 6', '§ 3']

UNITED STATES, Appellant, v. William C. WELDEN. | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute
377 U.S. 95 (84 S.Ct. 1082, 12 L.Ed.2d 152)
This appeal presents the question of whether a person who has testified under subpoena before a congressional committee investigating the operation of the Antitrust Acts has testified in a 'proceeding, suit, or prosecution under said Acts' thereby acquiring immunity from prosecution under the Act of February 25, 1903, 32 Stat. 854, 904. 1
The facts are undisputed. On September 6, 1962, appellee, along with other individuals and corporations, was indicted on charges of conspiring to fix milk prices and to defraud the United States, in violation of § 1 of the Sherman Act, 26 Stat. 209, as amended, 15 U.S.C. 1, and the Conspiracy Act, 62 Stat. 701, 18 U.S.C. 371. Appellee moved to dismiss the indictment on the ground, inter alia, that the prosecution was barred under the immunity provision of the Act of February 25, 1903, because he had previously testified before a subcommittee of the House Select Committee on Small Business concerning matters covered by the indictment. The Government opposed the motion to dismiss contending that the immunity provision of the Act of February 25, 1903, extends only to judicial proceedings and not to hearings before congressional committees. 2 The District Court for the District of Massachusetts, rejecting the Government's contention, dismissed the indictment against appellee. The Government appealed the dismissal directly to this Court pursuant to the Criminal Appeals Act, 62 Stat. 844, as amended, 18 U.S.C. 3731. Probable jurisdiction was noted. 375 U.S. 809, 84 S.Ct. 63, 11 L.Ed.2d 46.
'That for the enforcement of the provisions of the Act entitled 'An Act to regulate commerce,' approved February fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and all Acts amendatory thereof or supplemental thereto, and of the Act entitled 'An Act to protect trade and commerce against unlawful restraints and monopolies,' approved July second, eighteen hundred and ninety, and all Acts amendatory thereof or supplemental thereto, and sections seventy-three, seventy-four, seventy-five, and seventy-six of the Act entitled 'An Act to reduce taxation, to provide revenue for the Government, and other purposes,' approved August twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, the sum of five hundred thousand dollars, to be immediately available, is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not heretofore appropriated, to be expended under the direction of the Attorney-General in the employment of special counsel and agents of the Department of Justice to conduct proceedings, suits, and prosecutions under said Acts in the courts of the United States: Provided, That no person shall be prosecuted or be subjected to any penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any transaction, matter, or thing concerning which he may testify or produce evidence, documentary or otherwise, in any proceeding, suit, or prosecution under said Acts * * *' 32 Stat. 903904. (Emphasis added.)
By any common-sense reading of this statute, the words ' ny proceeding, suit, or prosecution under said Acts' in the proviso plainly refer to the phrase 'proceedings, suits, and prosecutions under said Acts in the courts of the United States,' in the previous clause. The words 'under said Acts' confirmed that the immunity provision is limited to judicial proceedings, which are brought 'under' specific existing acts, such as the Sherman Act or the Commerce Act. Congressional investigations, although they may relate to specific existing acts, are not generally so restricted in purpose or scope as to be spoken of as being brought 'under' these Acts. 3
We conclude, therefore, that as enacted the Act of February 25, 1903, applies only to judicial proceedings. 4
Appellee does not really dispute this. His basic contention, which is not accepted by any member of the Court, 5 is that the 1906 immunity statute 6 amended the Act of February 25, 1903, to extend immunity to persons who testified in nonjudicial as well as judicial proceedings. He does not contend that the 1906 statute, by its terms, so amended the 1903 Act. He offers the following interpretation of the events leading up to the enactment of the 1906 statute in support of the contention that the 1903 Act was amended by implication to extend to nonjudicial proceedings. In the case of United States v. Armour & Co., 142 F. 808, decided three years after the enactment of the 1903 Act, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois held that certain defendants had been immunized from prosecution under the Antitrust Laws by giving unsubpoenaed and unsworn testimony in a nonjudicial investigation conducted by the Commissioner of Corporations, 7 an official of the Department of Commerce and Labor. 8 Congressional reaction to this decision was immediate and adverse, and within four months Congress enacted the 1906 immunity statute. 9 This statute specifically limited immunity under existing immunity statutes to persons testifying under oath and in obedience to subpoena. 10 Appellee contends that the purpose of Congress in enacting the 1906 statute was to remedy the objectionable features of the Armour decision, and that since the statute did not 'remedy' the court's holding that immunity could be obtained by testifying in a nonjudicial proceeding, it follows that Congress did not regard that holding as objectionable. He asks us to conclude, therefore, that 'proceeding' as used in the immunity provision of the Act of February 25, 1903, must now be read to include nonjudicial as well as judicial proceedings.
This argument erroneously assumes that the Armour decision rested on a construction of 'proceeding, suit, or prosecution' in the immunity provision of the Act of February 25, 1903. A reading of that decision reveals, however, that it rested primarily on the Commerce and Labor Act, which contained a specific grant of immunity to persons who testified in investigations, admittedly nonjudicial, conducted by the Commissioner of Corporations. 11 In deciding the Armour case, the court felt it 'necessary to look into the purp ses of Congress in passing the commerce and labor act in order that the court may determine what construction will best carry out the legislative intent.' 142 F. at 819. After a detailed analysis of that statute and its history, the court concluded that the Commerce and Labor Act was dispositive of the case and that defendants were entitled to immunity thereunder. Following this conclusion, the judge added a brief paragraph in which he said, without analyzing (or even quoting) the language or history of the Act of February 25, 1903, that he was 'of opinion' that the defendants would also be entitled to immunity under that Act as well. Id., 142 F. at 826. 12 In the very next paragraph, however, the judge again described the opinion as resting on 'the construction here given to the commerce and labor law * * *.' Ibid.
The controversial feature of the Armour decision, and the only one which Congress was interested in remedying, was the holding that unsubpoenaed and unsworn testimony came within 'the purposes of Congress in passing the commerce and labor act * * *.' 142 F. at 819. Congress wanted to be certain that persons anticipating indictment could not immunize themselves from prosecution by volunteering to give unsworn testimony. 13 There was nothing controversial about the court's holding that immunity could result from testimony given in an investigation conducted by the Commissioner of Corporations, since the Commerce and Labor Act specifically granted immunity for testimony given in such an investigation.
The limited purpose of the 1906 Act is also apparent from the response made by Senator Knox, the manager of the bill which became the 1906 Act, 14 to a statement made by Senator Daniel, a ritic of immunity legislation. Senator Daniel said:
'I suppose that the bill under consideration as it reads now applies only to persons who testify in a judicial proceeding or to those who are responding to some body such as a Congressional committee that has the right to enforce an answer from a witness. 15
'Mr. President, the whole purpose of this bill is to define the right of the witness as we thought it was defined in the statute which I have read, and to say, as the statute said, but to say it even more clearly and emphatically, that the immunity shall only extend to witnesses who have been subpoenaed to produce books and papers or subpoenaed to give testimony. The essence of the whole act is found in lies 18, 19, and 20, on page 2, which read that these immunity provisionsonly the immunity provisions under the interstate commerce act and under the Commerce and Labor act, not the general immunity that the citizen enjoys in judicial proceedings, but merely in relation to the proceedings of these two great bureaus of the Government'shall extend only to a natural person.' That is, that a corporation is not to have the benefit of the immunity provisions, but theyshall extend only to a natural person who, in obedience to a subpoena, given testimony under oath or produces evidence, documentary or otherwise, under oath.' 40 Cong.Rec. 76577658. 16
This Court in United States v. Monia, 317 U.S. 424, 429430, 63 S.Ct. 409, 411, 412, 87 L.Ed. 376, recognized that 'the sole purpose' of the 1906 statute was to limit immunity to persons 'who, in obedience to a subpoena, testified or produced evidence under oath,' so that the decision whether or not to grant immunity would be that of the appropriate 'Government officials,' rather than of private citizens anticipating indictment. 17
Our decision today is based solely on the language and legislative history of the relevant congressional enactments. Congress has extended immunity, with careful safeguards, to persons testifying before congressional committees in certain limited situations not here involved. 18 Where Congress, however, has limited immunity to persons testifying in judicial proceedings, as it has plainly done here, it is not for the courts to extend the scope of the immunity.
The appellee was indicted for conspiracy 1 and violation of § 1 of the Sherman Act 2 shortly after he had appeared and testified about the alleged violation before a Committee of Congress in obedience to its subpoena. The District Court dismissed the indictment on the ground that the prosecution was barred by the Anti-trust Immunity Act of February 25, 1903, 3 as amended in 1906. 4 The Immunity Act provides:
'* * * (n)o person shall be prosecuted or be subjected to any penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any transaction, matter, or thing concerning which he may testify or produce evidence, documentary or otherwise, in any proceeding, suit, or prosecution under said (Interstate Commerce or Antitrust 5 ) Acts * * *.'
The Court appears to find much comfort for its holding in the Act's language appropriating funds to the Attorney General for the employment of special counsel and agents of the Department of Justice 'to conduct proceedings, suits, and prosecutions under said (Interstate Commerce or Antitrust) Acts in the court of the United States.' The Immunity Act itself was appended to the appropriation language following the word 'Provided.' But the appropriation provision was merely utilized as a legislative vehicle for passage of the substantive Immunity Act in the form of a proviso. The language after the word 'Provided' is a separate and dis inct immunity enactment, itself part of an immunity program enacted by Congress in 1903 in order to aid in the enforcement of the Antitrust Acts by compelling witnesses to testify upon this broad statutory promise of immunity by the Government. 6 This immunity provision of the 1903 enactment is complete in itself, independent of the appropriation provision. In fact, so independent is the immunity provision, that in the codification of the statute, 15 U.S.C. 32, the appropriation provision has been dropped altogether, making the majority's effort to limit the immunity provision's language by that of the appropriation provision even more strained. Therefore the 1903 Act, as amended in 1906, clearly unless the meaning of its language is to be amended by judicial decreestands as a lasting obligation upon the Government to give complete immunity to a witness who testifies 'in obedience to a subpoena * * * under oath,' not merely in a 'suit, or prosecution under said Acts' but 'in any proceeding * * * under said (Interstate Commerce or Antitrust) Acts.' The word 'proceeding,' broad enough to include testimony before a grand jury, Hale v. Henkel, 201 U.S. 43, 26 S.Ct. 370, 50 L.Ed. 652 is also broad enough to include testimony given under oath in obedience to a subpoena before any federal agency or legislative committee investigating antitrust violations.
'If it shall be said that the act of February 14, 1903, establishing the Department of Commerce and Labor, allows immunity to the witness only upon the conditions urged by the government, viz., that he shall have resisted until regularly subpoenaed and sworn, no such contention can fairly be made as to the immunity clause of the act of February 25, 1903. * * * It is contended that * * * the defendants are entitled to immunity under the independent and unconditional act of February 25, 1903, and I am of opinion that they are so entitled.' 7
The subsequent legislative treatment of the Antitrust Immunity Act of 1903 supports Judge Humphrey's holding that the complete immunity which that Act granted was not limited to testimony given in judicial proceedings only. The part of Judge Humphrey's opinion that caused great concern to the Government was his holding that witnesses obtained complete immunity from prosecution based on their testimony even though they had not been subpoenaed or put under oath. This concern prompted President Theodore Roosevelt to send a message to Congress requesting that the law be amended in this respect. The President's message specifically showed that he did not want to take away the immunity of witnesses who testified or produced documentary evidence, but simply wanted the law to grant immunity only to witnesses who appeared under subpoena and testified under oaththat is, those who were compelled to testify. Showing that this was his only objection to Judge Humphrey's holding, the President in his message told the Congress:
'It is of course necessary, under the Constitution and the laws, that persons who give testimony or produce evidence as witnesses should receive immunity from prosecution.' 8
'Perhaps I ought to say that, in my judgment, the legislation upon which Judge Humphrey largely based his ruling was not the act relating to interstate commerce, under which the Interstate Commerce Commission acts, nor the act creating the Bureau of Corporations, under which the Commissioner of Corporations acts, but probably the resolution appropriating $500,000, which contained a very broad and loosely drawn provision in relation to immunity. I am not authorized to say upon what the judge based his decision; but having read what he did say, it is rather my judgment that he was controlled in his conclusion very largely by the language contained in that appropriation, which was, in my judgment, very much broader than is found in the interstate-commerce act or in the act creating the Department of Commerce and Labor.' 9
'I suppose that the bill under consideration as it reads now applies only to persons who testify in a judicial proceeding or to those who are responding to some body such as a Congressional Committee that has the right to enforce an answer from a witness.' 10
Senator Knox, the manager of the amendment in the Senate, thereupon explained the bill to Senator Daniel in detail, never contradicting what Senator Daniel had said on this point. Neither Congressman Littlefield, Senator Daniel, Senator Knox, nor any other member of Congress suggested altering the Armour holding that the Antitrust Immunity Act of 1903 was not limited to judicial proceedingsnone, in fact, ever questioned itbecause that holding, it may fairly be inferred, orrectly read the intent of an almost identifical Congress in passing the Act three years earlier. 11
From that day until this no one seems ever to have doubted that this reading of the 1903 Antitrust Immunity Act was correct. In fact, in 1942 this Court obviously read the statute the same way in United States v. Monia, 317 U.S. 424, 63 S.Ct. 409, 87 L.Ed. 376. Monia and another claimed complete immunity under that Act as amended in 1906 because they had testified before a federal grand jury inquiring into alleged violations of the federal antitrust laws. The Act was fully considered in the majority opinion by Mr. Justice Roberts and in the dissenting opinion of Mr. Justice Frankfurther. Not only was there in that case no intimation that the immunity provided in the Act was for testimony given before judicial agencies only, but both opinions went on a precisely opposite assumption. In holding that the Act gave immunity even to a witness who had not asserted his Fifth Amendment privilege against being compelled to testify against himself, Mr. Justice Roberts speaking for the Court treated the 1903 Act before us as covering the same kinds of 'proceedings' as the immunity provisions of the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended in 1893, 12 which gave a complete immunity for testimony given before the Commission. Moreover, in his detailed dissent Mr. Justice Frankfurter referred at length to the immunity provisions contained in various statutes establishing governmental agencies both before and after the passage of the 1903 Act, such as the Securities Act, 13 the Public Utility Holding Company Act, 14 the Motor Carrier Act, 15 the Fair Labor Standards Act, 16 and various others. 317 U.S. 424, 431, 63 S.Ct. 409, 412, 87 L.Ed. 376. Surely all these were not cited in the belief that the 1903 Act related to testimony given before judicial bodies only. It is plain beyond doubt that they were referred to on the assumption that the 1903 Act granted whatever immunity it did, not merely for testimony given before judicial bodies, but for testimony given before all the various governmental agencies that subpoena witnesses to give evidence before them on antitrust matters.
The Antitrust Immunity Act of 1903 was passed at a time when the fear of prosecution was making testimony from witnesses often impossible to obtain and thereby impeding enforcement of the antitrust laws. It was passed by a Congress friendly to those laws, not to frustrate but to help enforce them. 17 Whether it was a wise or, in the case of an unwilling witness, constitutionally legitimate 18 means for Congress to use in seeking that goal is not the issue in this case. Wise or unwise, it was a solemn promise made by Congress which I think the Government should keep, just as I thought that the Government should have been compelled to keep a solemn promise of immunity made by the Secretary of the Treasury in Shotwell Mfg. Co. v. United States, 371 U.S. 341, 367, 83 S.Ct. 448, 463, 9 L.Ed.2d 357 (dissenting opinion). The very fact that the Court must labor so long and hard to reach its result is in my judgment strong evidence that that result should not have been reached, for I think that when the Government makes an obligation in broad terms on which individuals have a reasonable right to rely, it should not seek to have all doubts resolved in its own favor against the private citizens who have taken it at its word. Important as I believe the antitrust laws to be, I believe it is more important still that there should be no room for anyone to doubt that when the Government makes a promise, it keeps it. Cf. Federal Power Comm'n v. Tuscarora Indian Nation, 362 U.S. 99, 124, 80 S.Ct. 543, 557, 4 L.Ed.2d 584 (dissenting opinion).
Congressional investigations as they have evolved, are in practice 'proceedings' of a grave nature so far as individual liberties are concerned. Not all committee hearings are 'trials' of the witness; not all committee hearings are televised or broadcast; and so far as appears this witness was not subjected to any such orderal. 1 But the problem with which we deal concerns not a particular committee nor a particular hearing but the generalized meaning of 'proceeding' as used in the Act of February 25, 1903.
Courts cannot enjoin a committee from questioning a witness any more than they can enjoin passage of a palpably unconstitutional bill. See Nelson v. United States, 93 U.S.App.D.C. 14, 208 F.2d 505. But courts, knowing the manner in which committees often operate, are properly alert either in denying legal effect to what has been done or in taking other steps protective of the rights of the accused. 2 See Nelson v. United States, 93 U.S.App.D.C., at 22, 208 F.2d at 513. That is one reason why I would not import any ambiguities into this Immunity Act to the disadvantage of the accused.
In these and other related ways, congressional committees are fenced in. Yet in the view of some of us the tendency has been to trench on First Amendment rights. See Braden v. United States, 365 U.S. 431, 81 S.Ct. 584, 5 L.Ed.2d 653; Wilkinson v. United States, 365 U.S. 399, 81 S.Ct. 567, 5 L.Ed.2d 633; Barenblatt v. United States, 360 U.S. 109, 79 S.Ct. 1081, 3 L.Ed.2d 1115; Gibson v. Florida Legislative Comm., 372 U.S. 539, 83 S.Ct. 889, 9 L.Ed.2d 929. There was a time when a committee, knowing that a witness would not answer a question by reason of the Fifth Amendment, would not put the question to him. Today, witnesses who invoke the Fifth Amendment at the threshold have been minutely examined, apparently to see how many times they can be forced to invoke it. 3 Hearings have indeed often become a spectacle, 4 some of the reasons being succinctly stated by the experienced Chairman of the Senate Committee on Government Operations, and head of the Permanent Committee on Investigations, Senator McClellan of Arkansas:
'First let me say that the primary purpose and actually the only legitimate purpose for such hearings must be a legislative purpose, but out of that also flows the opportunity to disseminate information f great value and advantage to the public. Because the public of course is interested in legislation and upon what you premise itupon what is the need for it. It all fits in. Now my position has been, and there are those, who, I'm sure, disagree with me, when we hold a public hearing it is public. Those who have the opportunity, who can conveniently act some times attend in person and witness everything that occursthe press is present to make a reporting on what occursradio is there to disseminate the information as it is producedI can see no good reason for barring television. That too is a media of communication, and in my judgment sometimes is the most effective, next to actually being present in person and witnessing what has occurred. So I have always felt that if the press is to be present, radio coverage is to be given, the television is entitled to the same privileges. I do think that the lights being on is a distractionI think the lights should be turned off and we have always observed that except where a man is simply taking the fifth amendment. If he's taking the fifth amendment and reading from a card, the light helps him to see to read the script on the card and I don't see any reason to turn them off.' 5
'1. The use of these publicity media bears no real and substantial relation to any legitimate purpose of a congressional investigating committee. Yet, it constitutes a substantial restraint upon the liberty of an unwilling witness. Hence to force him to testify before these media exceeds the constitutional bounds of the investigating power; the attempt to do so, and a fortiori punishment under R.S. § 102 (1875), 2 U.S.C. 192 (1946 ed.) is therefore a denial of substantive due process under the Fifth Amendment.
'2. The use of these media creates an atmosphere in which it is normally unfair to compel the testimony of an unwilling witness, and in which rights guaranteed by the Constitution are placed in jeopardy. Hence to use these media, without reasonable necessity, constitutes a denial of procedural due process under the same Amendment.' 6
'It is the very negation of judicial process, with the committee acting as prosecutor and defense and the public acting as the jury.' 7
'The legislative trial carries with it sanctions of a severe order. It is, to begin with, unimpeded by any statute of limitations; an error committed in the 1930s may be judged in the 1950sand without any allowance whatever for altered conditions or a changed political climate. Defendants may be subjected to double or triple jeopardy, that is, they may be tried by different committees for the same deed. The punishments meted out are uninhibited by any sort of criminal code. Persons convicted in the courts of Congress may not suffer imprisonment, but they are likely to be subjected, in addition to loss of reputation, to a black-listing which may effectively deny them any means of gaining a livelihood.' 8
'The legislative trial serves three distinct though related purposes: (1) it can be used to punish conduct which is not criminal; (2) it can be used to punish supposedly criminal conduct in the absence of evidence requisite to conviction in a court of law; and (3) it can be used to drive or trap persons suspected of 'disloyalty' into committing some collateral crime such as perjury or contempt of Congress, which can then be subjected to punishment through a judicial proceeding.' 9
'Legislative trials, since the trial of Socrates, have had an odious history. Legislative trials combine the functions of prosecutor and judge and deny to the accused the right to impartial and independent judgment. Legislative trials are subject to the influence of partisanship, passion and prejudice. Legislative trials are political trials. Let us remember that in the past legislative justice has tended to degenerate into mob injustice.' 10
The legislative 'trial' is a phenomenon that Senator Cain once described as a committee 'running wild,' becoming 'victims of a wave of emotion which they created, but over which they had no control.' 11
This Act, as codified, appears at 15 U.S.C. 32. The codification, which has not been enacted into positive law, eliminates the appropriation provision of the Act which by its terms was of no effect after June 30, 1904. The codification makes no other change. 61 Stat. 638, 1 U.S.C. 204(a), declares that the United States Code establishes 'prima facie the laws of the United States, general and permanent in their nature * * * Provided, however, That whenever titles of such Code shall have been enacted into positive law the text thereof shall be legal evidence of the laws therein contained, in all the courts * * *.' This Court, in construing that statute has said that 'the very meaning of 'prima facie' is that the Code cannot prevail over the Statutes at Large when the two are inconsistent.' Stephan v. United States, 319 U.S. 423, 426, 63 S.Ct. 1135, 1137, 87 L.Ed. 1490. Even where Congress has enacted a codification into positive law, this Court has said that the
'Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That under the immunity provisions in the Act entitled 'An Act in relation to testimony before the Interstate Commerce Commission,' and so forth, approved February eleventh, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, in section six of the Act entitled 'An Act to establish the Department of Commerce and Labor,' approved February fourteenth, nineteen hundred and three, and in the Act entitled 'An Act to further regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the States,' approved February nineteenth, nineteen hundred and three, and in the Act entitled 'An Act making appropriations for the legislative, executive, and judicial expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and four, and for other purposes,' approved February twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred and three, immunity shall extend only to a natural person who, in obedience to a subpoena, gives testimony under oath or produces evidence, documentary or otherwise, under oath.' 34 Stat. 798, 15 U.S.C. 33.
See discussion of these events in United States v. Monia, 317 U.S. 424, 428429, 63 S.Ct. 409, 411, 87 L.Ed. 376.
'That no person shall be excused from attending and testifying or from producing books, papers, tariffs, contracts, agreements and documents before the Interstate Commerce Commission, or in obedience to the subpoena of the Commission, whether such subpoena be signed or issued by one or more Commissioners, or in any cause or proceeding, criminal or otherwise, based upon or growing out of any alleged violation of the act of Congress, entitled, 'An act to regulate commerce,' approved February fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, or of type of proceeding in which immunity, or for the reason that the testimony or evidence, documentary or otherwise, required of him, may tend to criminate him or subject him to a penalty or forfeiture. But no person shall be prosecuted or subjected to any penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any transaction, matter or thing, concerning which he may testify, or produce evidence, documentary or otherwise, before said Commission, or in obedience to its subpoena, or the subpoena of either of them, or in any such case or proceeding: Provided, That no person so testifying shall be exempt from prosecution and punishment for perjury committed in so testifying.' 27 Stat. 443444.
Although Congressman Littlefield referred to the this dictum in the debate on the House version of the bill, 40 Cong.Rec. 8738, he did not intimate that the 1903 Act was applicable to congressional investigations or that the purpose of the 1906 Act was to make it so applicable. On the contrary, Congressman Littlefield stated that the sole purpose of the Act was to limit immunity to subpoenaed and sworn testimony. He specifically said, moreover, that the 1906 Act and the Acts which it amended were intended to apply only to a 'criminal prosecution * * * (and to investigations conducted by) the Interstate Commerce Commission * * * or by the Commissioner of Corporations * * *,' and that the 1906 Act as intended to assure that no 'person shall have the power to offer immunity to a witness except the Government of the United States or some officer acting in behalf thereof.' Id., at 8739. This language, in its context, would not seem to inclaude members or Committees of Congress. See also H.R.Rep. No. 3797, 59th Cong., 1st Sess. Furthermore, even if we were to assume arguendo that the Armour decision was based on a construction of the Act of February 25, 1903, we would be hesitant to accept appellee's argument that the failure of Congress to overrule that construction resulted in an amendment by implication. Amendments by implication, like repeals by implication, are not favored. See 1 Sutherland, Statutory Construction (3d ed.) 365366 (citing cases). As this Court said in Jones v. Liberty Glass Co., 332 U.S. 524, 534, 68 S.Ct. 229, 234, 92 L.Ed. 142: 'We do not expect Congress to make an affirmative move every time a lower court indulges in an erroneous interpretation. In short, the original legislative language speaks louder than such judicial action.'
Senator Daniel's supposition that the 1906 Act 'applies' to congressional committees was probably based on the erroneous assumption that the 1906 Act, in addition to amending the Acts to which it made specific reference, see note 9, supra, also amended 12 Stat. 333 which provided that: 'the testimony of a witness examined and testifying before either House of Congress, or any committee of either House of Congress, shall not be used as evidence in any criminal proceeding against such witness in any court of justice * * *.' This statute was superseded in 1954 by 68 Stat. 745, 18 U.S.C. 3486. ln*
See Immunity Act of 1954, 68 Stat. 745, 18 U.S.C. 3486.
62 Stat. 701, 18 U.S.C. 371.
26 Stat. 209, as amended, 15 U.S.C. 1.
32 Stat. 854, 904, 15 U.S.C. 32.
The Acts will respect to which immunity from prosecution was given are the Interstate Commerce Act, 24 Stat. 379, as amended, 49 U.S.C. 127, 4143, 301327, the Sherman Act, 26 Stat. 209, as amended, 15 U.S.C. 17, and the antitrust provisions of the Wilson Tariff Act of 1894, §§ 7376, 28 Stat. 509, 570, as amended, 15 U.S.C. 811.
See also the identical immunity provisions in the Commerce and Labor Act of February 14, 1903, § 6, 32 Stat. 825, 828, incorporating by reference Compulsory Testimony Amendment of 1893 to the Interstate Commerce Act, 27 Stat. 443, 49 U.S.C. 46, and in the Elkins Amendment to the Interstate Commerce Act, Act of February 19, 1903, § 3, 32 Stat. 847, 848, 49 U.S.C. 4143.
27 Stat. 443, 49 U.S.C. 46.
48 Stat. 74, 87, 15 U.S.C. 77v(c).
49 Stat. 803, 832, 15 U.S.C. 79r.
49 Stat. 543, 550, 49 U.S.C. 305(d).
52 Stat. 1060, 1065, 29 U.S.C. 209.
See 36 Cong.Rec. 411419. The provision was not debated in the Senate. See id., 989990.
Respondent's testimony before the Committee appears in Hearings, Special Subcommittee of the House Select Committee on Small Business, 86th Cong., 2d Sess., pursuant to H.Res. 51, Pt. IV, pp. 665700.
See Hearings before Senate Committee on Rules and Administration on Financial or Business Interests of Officers or Employees of the Senate, 88th Cong., 1st and 2d Sess., pp. 1337 1363 (Robert G. Baker); Hearings before Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field, 85th Cong., 1st Sess., pp. 15111578, 16541684, 20382047, 23742405 (Dave Beck); Beck v. Washington, 369 U.S. 541, 583587, 82 S.Ct. 955, 977979, 8 L.Ed.2d 98 (dissenting opinion).
Telecasting and broadcasting of committee hearings are banned by the House. See 98 Cong.Rec. 13341335, 1443, 15671571, 1689 1691, 19491952, 53945395, A1152A1153, A1176, A1180, A1196, A1227; 108 Cong.Rec. 267269.