Court Opinion

ID: 9423038
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:05:42.114825+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:41.860969
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice White,
with whom Mr. Justice Black joins,
concurring in the judgment.
The Court rejects the contention of the Government that the filing of a complaint fulfilling the requirements of Rule 3 suffices to trigger the provisions of § 6531 extending the period of limitations. The Court holds that the complaint must also satisfy the probable-cause requirement of Rule 4 and that the Government must proceed with the preliminary hearing under Rule 5. Section 6531 provides that “[w]here a complaint is instituted” the time shall be extended. Assuming that the “complaint” *226specified in this provision is one satisfying Rule 4 as well as Rule 3, the statute affords no basis whatever for the Court’s holding that the Government must proceed with the preliminary hearing and that “dismissal of the complaint before the indictment is returned would vitiate the time extension,” ante, at 220, even though an indictment were obtained thereafter within the nine-month period. The statute is unequivocal that the period is extended when the complaint is instituted and, in my view, requires nothing further of the Government.
Because I agree with the Court that the complaint supplied an adequate foundation for the Commissioner’s determination that probable cause existed, I deem it unnecessary to consider whether § 6531 contemplates a complaint establishing probable cause or merely compliance with Rule 3.