Source: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/342/1
Timestamp: 2014-12-28 02:37:11
Document Index: 362641762

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1291', '§ 1291', '§ 2241', '§ 2241', '§ 3141', '§ 1291', '§ 1292', '§ 1015', '§ 1014', '§ 3141', '§ 3041']

STACK et al. v. BOYLE, U.S. Marshal. | LII / Legal Information Institute
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342 U.S. 1 (72 S.Ct. 1, 96 L.Ed. 3)
STACK et al. v. BOYLE, U.S. Marshal.
[HTML] Argued on Motions for Bail and for Writs of Habeas Corpus Prior to Docketing of Petition for Certiorari Oct. 18, 1951.
are to be applied in each case to each defendant. In this case petitioners are charged with offenses under the Smith Act and, if found guilty, their convictions are subject to review with the scrupulous care demanded by our Constitution. Dennis v. United States, 1951, 341 U.S. 494, 516, 71 S.Ct. 857, 870, 95 L.Ed. 1137. Upon final judgment of conviction, petitioners face imprisonment of not more than five years and a fine of not more than $10,000. It is not denied that bail for each petitioner has been fixed in a sum much higher than that usually imposed for offenses with like penalties and yet there has been no factual showing to justify such action in this case. The Government asks the courts to depart from the norm by assuming, without the introduction of evidence, that each petitioner is a pawn in a conspiracy and will, in obedience to a superior, flee the jurisdiction. To infer from the fact of indictment alone a need for bail in an unusually high amount is an arbitrary act. Such conduct would inject into our own system of government the very principles of totalitarianism which Congress was seeking to guard against in passing the statute under which petitioners have been indicted.
Second. The proper procedure for challenging bail as unlawfully fixed is by motion for reduction of bail and appeal to the Court of Appeals from an order denying such motion. Petitioners' motion to reduce bail did not merely invoke the discretion of the District Court setting bail within a zone of reasonableness, but challenged the bail as violating statutory and constitutional standards. As there is no discretion to refuse to reduce excessive bail, the order denying the motion to reduce bail is appealable as a 'final decision' of the District Court under 28 U.S.C. (Supp. IV) § 1291, 28 U.S.C.A. § 1291. Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp., 1949, 337 U.S. 541, 545547, 69 S.Ct. 1221, 12251226, 93 L.Ed. 1528. In this case, however, petitioners did not take an appeal from the order of the District Court denying their motion for reduction of bail. Instead, they presented their claims under the Eighth Amendment in applications for writs of habeas corpus. While habeas corpus is an appropriate remedy for one held in custody in violation of the Constitution, 28 U.S.C. (Supp. IV) § 2241(c)(3), 28 U.S.C.A. § 2241(c)(3), the District Court should withhold relief in this collateral habeas corpus action where an adequate remedy available in the criminal proceeding has not been exhausted. Ex parte Royall, 1886, 117 U.S. 241, 6 S.Ct. 734, 29 L.Ed. 868; Johnson v. Hoy, 1913, 227 U.S. 245, 33 S.Ct. 240, 57 L.Ed. 497.
I think the principles governing allowance of bail have been misunderstood or too casually applied in these cases and that they should be returned to the Circuit Justice or the District Courts for reconsideration in the light of standards which it is our function to determine. We have heard the parties on only four specific questions relating to bail before convictiontwo involving considerations of law and of fact which should determine the amount of bail, and two relating to the procedure for correcting any departure therefrom. I consider first the principles which govern release of accused persons upon bail pending their trial.
It is complained that the District Court fixed a uniform blanket bail chiefly by consideration of the nature of the accusation and did not take into account the difference in circumstances between different defendants. If this occurred, it is a clear violation of Rule 46(c). Each defendant stands before the bar of justice as an individual. Even on a conspiracy charge defendants do not lose their separateness or identity. While it might be possible that these defendants are identical in financial ability, character and relation to the chargeelements Congress has directed to be regarded in fixing bailI think it violates the law of probabilities. Each accused is entitled to any benefits due to his good record, and misdeeds or a bad record should prejudice only those who are guilty of them. The question when application for bail is made relates to each one's trustworthiness to appear for trial and what security will supply reasonable assurance of his appearance.
The first fixing of bail, whether by a commissioner under Rule 5(b), or upon removal under Rule 40(a), Fed.Rules Crim.Proc., or by the court upon arraignment after indictment, 18 U.S.C. 3141, 18 U.S.C.A. § 3141, is a serious exercise of judicial discretion. But often it must be done in hastethe defendant may be taken by surprise, counsel has just been engaged, or for other reasons the bail is fixed without that full inquiry and consideration which the matter deserves. Some procedure for reconsideration is a practical necessity, and the court's power over revocation or reduction is a continuing power which either party may invoke as changing circumstances may require. It is highly important that such preliminary matters as bail be disposed of with as much finality as possible in the District Court where the case is to be tried. It is close to the scene of the offense, most accessible to defendant, has opportunity to see and hear the defendant and the witnesses personally, and is likely to be best informed for sound exercise of discretion. Rarely will the original determination be disturbed, if carefully made, but if the accused moves to reduce or the Government to revoke bail, a more careful deliberation may then be made on the relevant evidence presented by the parties, and if the defendant or the Government is aggrieved by a denial of the motion an appeal may be taken on the record as it then stands.
It is my conclusion that an order denying reduction of bail is to be regarded as a final decision which may be appealed to the Court of Appeals. But this is not because every claim of excessive bail raises a constitutional question. It is because we may properly hold appeal to be a statutory right. While only a sentence constitutes a final judgment in a criminal case, Berman v. United States, 302 U.S. 211, 212, 58 S.Ct. 164, 165, 82 L.Ed. 204, it is a final decision that Congress has made reviewable. 28 U.S.C. 1291, 28 U.S.C.A. § 1291. While a final judgment always is a final decision, there are instances in which a final decision is not a final judgment. The purpose of the finality requirement is to avoid piecemeal disposition of the basic controversy in a single case 'where the result of review will be 'to halt in the orderly progress of a cause and consider incidentally a question which has happened to cross the path of such litigation * * *" Cobbledick v. United States, 309 U.S. 323, 326, 60 S.Ct. 540, 542, 84 L.Ed. 783. But an order fixing bail can be reviewed without halting the main trialits issues are entirely independent of the issues to be triedand unless it can be reviewed before sentence, it never can be reviewed at all. The relation of an order fixing bail to final judgment in a criminal case is analogous to an order determining the right to security in a civil proceeding, Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 69 S.Ct. 1221, 93 L.Ed. 1528, or other interlocutory orders reviewable under 28 U.S.C. 1292, 28 U.S.C.A. § 1292. I would hold, therefore, that such orders are appealable.
It thus appears that the scheme of the Revised Statutes has been taken over bodily into the present Code and Rules. The only change I perceive is that, under the Revised Statutes, there was no clear statutory authority for a court to grant bail in a noncapital case. Rev.Stat. § 1015 (and § 1014) applicable to such case speak only of individuals. 18 U.S.C.A. § 3141 confers the power on 'any court, judge or magistrate authorized to arrest and commit offenders.' The only reasonable construction of the latter is the obvious literal one, that is, that courts as well as the individuals empowered to arrest and commit offenders by 18 U.S.C. 3041, 18 U.S.C.A. § 3041 are authorized to grant bail. This is substantiated by the language of Fed.Rules Crim.Proc. 46(c), 'Amount (of bail)': 'If the defendant is admitted to bail, the amount thereof shall be such as in the judgment of the commissioner or court or judge or justice will insure the presence of the defendant * * *.' (Italics added.)
That is the one difference between the Revised Statutes' scheme and the presentthe power to grant bail in noncapital cases now clearly is vested in the courts as well as in individual judges and justices.