Source: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/382/70
Timestamp: 2014-03-09 15:49:46
Document Index: 297568002

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 7', '§ 786', '§ 13', '§ 13', '§ 8', '§ 14', '§ 11', '§ 15', '§ 794', '§ 2385', '§ 4', '§ 783', '§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 787', '§ 793', '§ 7', '§ 786', '§ 11', '§ 7', '§ 786', '§ 11', '§ 783']

Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board | LII / Legal Information Institute
Supreme Court aboutsearch liibulletin subscribe previews Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board
Argued: October 18, 1965
Decided: November 15, 1965
The Communist Party of the United States of America failed to register with the Attorney General as required by the order of the Subversive Activities Control Board [p72]
sustained in Communist Party of the United States v. SACB, 367 U.S. 1. [n1]
Accordingly, no list of Party members was filed as required by § 7(d)(4) of the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950, 64 Stat. 993-994, 50 U.S.C. § 786(d)(4) (1964 ed.).
Sections 8(a) and (c) of the Act provide that, in that circumstance, each member of the organization must register and file a registration statement; in default thereof, § 13(a) authorizes the Attorney General to petition the Board for an order requiring the member to register.
The [p73]
Attorney General invoked § 13(a) against petitioners, and the Board, after evidentiary hearings, determined that petitioners were Party members and ordered each of them to register pursuant to §§ 8(a) and (c). Review of the orders was sought by petitioners in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit under § 14(a).
The Court of Appeals affirmed the orders, 118 U.S.App.D.C. 117, 332 F.2d 317. We granted certiorari, 381 U.S. 910. We reverse.
Petitioners address several constitutional challenges to the validity of the orders, but we consider only the contention [p74]
The Court of Appeals affirmed the orders without deciding the privilege issue, expressing the view that, under our decision in Communist Party, 367 U.S. at 105-110, the issue was not ripe for adjudication, and would be ripe only in a prosecution for failure to register if the petitioners did not register. 118 U.S.App.D.C. at 121-123, 332 F.2d at 321-323. We disagree. In Communist Party, the Party asserted the privilege on behalf of unnamed officers -- those obliged to register the Party and those obliged "to register for" the Party if it failed to do so.
The self-incrimination claim asserted on behalf of the latter officers was held premature because the Party might choose to register, and thus the duty of those officers might never arise. Here, in contrast, the contingencies upon which the members' duty to register arises have already matured; the Party did not register within 30 days after the order to register became final, and the requisite 60 days since the order became final have elapsed. As to the officers obliged to register the Party, Communist Party held that the self-incrimination claim asserted on their behalf was not ripe for adjudication because [p75]
There are other reasons for holding that petitioners' self-incrimination claims are ripe for decision. Specific orders requiring petitioners to register have been issued. The Attorney General has promulgated regulations requiring that registration shall be accomplished on Form IS-52a and that the accompanying registration statement shall be a completed Form IS-52,
28 CFR §§ 11.206, 11.207, and petitioners risk very heavy penalties if they fail to register by completing and filing these forms. Under § 15(a)(2) of the Act, 64 Stat. 1002, 50 U.S.C. § 794(a)(2), for example, each day of failure to register constitutes a separate offense punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 or imprisonment of up to five years, or both.
Petitioners must either register without a decision on the merits of their privilege claims, [p76]
The distinction upon which this argument is predicated is illusory. Neither the statute nor the regulations draw any distinction between the act of registering and the submission of a registration statement, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the answering of the inquiries demanded by the forms; the statute and regulations contemplate, rather, that the questions asked on the forms [p77]
The risks of incrimination which the petitioners take in registering are obvious. Form IS-52a requires an admission of membership in the Communist Party. Such an admission of membership may be used to prosecute the registrant under the membership clause of the Smith Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2385 (1964 ed.), or under § 4(a) of the Subversive Activities Control Act, 64 Stat. 991, 50 U.S.C. § 783(a) (1964 ed.), to mention only two federal criminal statutes. Scales v. United States, 367 U.S. 203, 211. Accordingly, we have held that mere association with the Communist Party presents sufficient threat of prosecution to support a claim of privilege. Patricia Blau v. United States, 340 U.S. 159; Irving Blau v.
United States, 340 U.S. 332; Brunner v. United States, 343 U.S. 918; Quinn v. United States, 349 U.S. 155. These cases involved questions to witnesses on the witness stand, but if the admission cannot be compelled in oral testimony, we do not see how compulsion in writing makes a difference for constitutional purposes. Cf. New York ex rel. Ferguson v. Reardon, 197 N.Y. 236, 243244, 90 N.E. 829, 832. It follows that the requirement to accomplish registration by completing and filing Form IS-52a is inconsistent with the protection of the Self-Incrimination Clause.
The statutory scheme, in providing that registration "shall be accompanied" by a registration statement, clearly implies that there is a duty to file Form IS-52, the registration statement, only if there is an enforceable obligation to accomplish registration by completing and filing Form IS-52a. Yet, even if the statute and regulations required petitioners to complete and file Form IS-52 without regard to the validity of the order to register on Form IS-52a, the requirement to complete and file Form IS-52 would also invade the privilege. Like the admission of Party membership demanded by Form IS-52a, the information called for by Form IS-52 -- the organization of which the registrant is a member, his aliases, place and date of birth, a list of offices held in the organization and duties thereof -- might be used as evidence in, or at least supply investigatory leads to, a criminal prosecution. The Government, relying on United States v. Sullivan, 274 U.S. 259, argues that petitioners might answer some questions and appropriately claim the privilege on the form as to others, but cannot fail to submit a registration statement altogether. Apart from our conclusion that nothing in the Act or regulations permits less than literal and full compliance with the requirements of the form, the reliance on Sullivan
Section 4(f) of the Act,
the purported immunity provision, does not save the registration orders from petitioners' [p80]
Fifth Amendment challenge. In Counselman v. Hitchcock, 142 U.S. 547, decided in 1892, the Court held
and that such a statute is valid only if it supplies "a complete protection from all the perils against which the constitutional prohibition was designed to guard . . . " by affording "absolute immunity against future prosecution for the offence to which the question relates." Id. at 585-586. Measured by these standards, the immunity granted by § 4(f) is not complete. See Scales v. United States, 367 U.S. at 206-219. It does not preclude any use of the information called for by Form IS-52, either as evidence or as an investigatory lead. With regard to the act of registering on Form IS-52a, § 4(f) provides only that the admission of Party membership thus required shall not per se constitute a violation of § 4(a) and (c) or any other criminal statute, or "be received in evidence" against a registrant in any criminal prosecution; it does not preclude the use of the admission as an investigatory lead, a use which is barred by the privilege. Counselman v. Hitchcock, 142 U.S. at 564-565, 585.
6. If the space provided on the form for the answer to any given item is insufficient, reference shall be made [p84]
in such space to a full insert page or pages on which the item number and item shall be restated and the answer given.
The undersigned certifies that he has read the information set forth in this statement, that he is familiar with the contents thereof, and that such contents are in their [p85]
entirety true and accurate to the best of his knowledge and belief. The undersigned further represents that he is familiar with the provisions of Section 1001, Title 18, U.S.Code (printed at the bottom of this form).
Sections 8(a) and (c), 64 Stat. 995, 50 U.S.C. §§ 787(a) and (c) (1964 ed.), provide: (a) Any individual who is or becomes a member of any organization concerning which (1) there is in effect a final order of the Board requiring such organization to register under section 786(a) of this title as a Communist action organization, (2) more than thirty days have elapsed since such order has become final, and (3) such organization is not registered under section 786 of this title as a Communist action organization, shall within sixty days after said order has become final, or within thirty days after becoming a member of such organization, whichever is later, register with the Attorney General as a member of such organization.
Section 14(a), 64 Stat. 1001, 50 U.S.C. § 793(a) (1964 ed.), provides: The party aggrieved by any order entered by the Board . . . may obtain a review of such order by filing in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, within sixty days from the date of service upon it of such order, a written petition praying that the order of the Board be set aside. . . . Upon the filing of such petition the court shall have jurisdiction of the proceeding and shall have power to affirm or set aside the order of the Board. . . . The findings of the Board as to the facts, if supported by the preponderance of the evidence, shall be conclusive. . . . The judgment and decree of the court shall be final, except that the same shall be subject to review by the Supreme Court upon certiorari. . . .
The regulations governing Party registration pursuant to § 7(d), 50 U.S.C. § 786(d), are 28 CFR §§ 11.200 and 11.201, and the forms are IS-51a and IS-51. The regulation governing officers obliged by § 7(h), 50 U.S.C. § 786(h) "to register for" the Party if it failed to register is 28 CFR § 11.205. See Communist Party, 367 U.S. at 105-110.
Section 4(f), 64 Stat. 992, 50 U.S.C. § 783(f) provides: Neither the holding of office nor membership in any Communist organization by any person shall constitute per se a violation of subsection (a) or subsection (c) of this section or of any other criminal statute. The fact of the registration of any person under section 787 or section 788 of this title as an officer or member of any Communist organization shall not be received in evidence against such person in any prosecution for any alleged violation of subsection (a) or subsection (c) of this section or for any alleged violation of any other criminal statute.
The legislative history includes several expressions of doubt that the immunity granted was coextensive with the privilege. See S.Rep. No. 2369, 81st Cong., 2d Sess., Pt. 2, pp. 12-13 (Sen. Kilgore) (Minority Report); 96 Cong.Rec. 14479 (Sen. Humphrey); 96 Cong.Rec. 15199 and 15554 (Sen. Kefauver); see also 96 Cong.Rec. 13739-13740 (Rep. Celler), dealing with a more modified immunity grant in H.R. 9490. See generally Scales v. United States, 367 U.S. at 212-219 (Court opinion), 282-287 (dissenting opinion).
18 U.S.C. Section 1001, provides:
I join in the opinion of the Court. The conclusion it reaches today was forecast in 1948. In response to the request of the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee for an expression of the views of the Department of Justice on H.R. 5852, a precursor of the Act here under attack, it was then pointed out that the "measure might be held . . . even to compel self-incrimination."
would require every Communist political organization and every Communist-front organization to register. . . . In addition to information which would be required of both organizations in common, a Communist political organization would be obliged to disclose [p86]
the names and addresses of its members in its registration statement. . . . In case of the failure of any organization to register in accordance with the measure, it would be the duty of the executive officer and the secretary of such organization to register in behalf of the organization. . . . A failure to register . . . subjects the organization and certain of its agents to severe penalties.