Court Opinion

ID: 9460861
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:01:43.188168+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:48.489016
License: Public Domain

OPINION OF THE COURT
ALDISERT, Circuit Judge.
Presenting a delicate question of federal-state comity, this appeal requires us to decide whether federal fact-finding should be utilized to determine whether a New Jersey municipal court judge’s testimony before a state grand jury was the product of a free and unconstrained will. Contending that his Fifth Amendment rights as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment will not be vindicated by the New Jersey state court system, appellant argues that the federal courts should provide relief because highly unusual circumstances dictate an exception to the familiar restrictive rule of Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 91 S.Ct. 746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971).
I.
This is an appeal from an order of the district court which (1) denied plaintiff’s request for a preliminary injunction prohibiting the Attorney General of New Jersey and others from proceeding with the prosecution of an indictment pending in that state,1 and (2) granted the defendants’ motion, under Rule 12(b)(6) F.R.Civ.P., to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. The district court held an evidentiary hearing on the motion for a preliminary injunction, and made limited findings of fact. The appeal was argued before a panel of this court on September 7, 1973. Deeming the issues raised to be substantial, the trial on the challenged indictment being scheduled to commence on September 10, 1973, and the Attorney General of New Jersey declining to postpone it until the panel could decide the case, the *1190panel entered an order enjoining the prosecution until such time as the appeal could be decided. Panel opinions were filed on September 10 reversing and remanding for further proceedings. Thereafter, representing that the State was willing to delay plaintiff's trial until disposition of the application for rehearing, the state attorney general petitioned for rehearing. Based on that representation, we recalled our mandate on September 21, 1973. Rehearing was granted before the panel; supplemental briefing was ordered on certain issues suggested by the appeal which had not been previously briefed or argued; and the panel subsequently granted some relief, one judge dissenting. Because of important federal-state comity questions, the full court subsequently agreed to hear the case in banc.
II.
Plaintiff-appellant, Helfant, a member of the New Jersey bar and a former municipal court judge of that state, alleged in a verfied complaint that he had been advised that he was the target of a state grand jury investigation into an alleged withdrawal of a criminal charge of atrocious assault and battery. Armed with this information, and asserting a Fifth Amendment privilege, Helfant refused to testify when he first appeared before the state grand jury on October 18, 1972. He was subsequently subpoenaed to appear again before the grand jury on November 8, 1972, which was then sitting at the Trenton State House Annex on the same floor as the chambers of New Jersey State Supreme Court justices. Helfant was also directed to appear before the justices of the Supreme Court in their private chambers 10 minutes before his scheduled re-appearance before the grand jury.
The complaint averred that upon his appearance in the Supreme Court chambers, several justices asked questions about the subject matter of the grand jury investigation, including matters not then made public and also including inquiries concerning certain witnesses who had testified against Helfant before the grand jury.2
His complaint averred that “[a]fter [he] left the Supreme Court chambers, he was in a state of confusion and bewilderment and had to go immediately before the State Grand Jury. * * * As a result of these questions, [by justices of the Supreme Court,] the plaintiff, whose previous counsel-advised intentions and will were completely dis*1191carded and overcome and who was quite emotionally upset by the confrontation, indicated to the Justices that he would indeed waive his Fifth Amendment privilege and testify in full before the State Grand Jury, fearing not only the loss of his Judgeship, but his accreditation as a member of the bar as well.”
Helfant also averred that Deputy Attorney General Hayden, conducting the grand jury investigation, entered the Supreme Court chambers after plaintiff left and that Hayden had also preceded the plaintiff into the chambers.
Finally, his complaint alleges:
14. As a result of the intrusion by the Deputy Attorney General and the disclosure to the Supreme Court of factual matters involved in a Grand Jury investigation during pendency of that investigation, and because of the intrusion of the New Jersey Supreme Court into the Grand Jury investigation and the communication between the Supreme Court of New Jersey and the Deputy Attorney General conducting the Grand Jury investigation, the plaintiff herein is made to suffer great, immediate, substantial and irreparable harm in that he must attempt to defend criminal charges brought in a State in which there has been prejudicial collusion directly affecting plaintiff, whether intentional or inadvertent between the Judicial and Executive branches of the New Jersey State government. Plaintiff is being made to defend criminal charges which have been obtained, inter alia, as a result of that collusion, and the deprivation of plaintiff’s constitutional rights by not too subtle cooperative coercion on the part of the defendants. Furthermore, in the event of his conviction upon any one of the charges presently pending against him, plaintiff’s only recourse would be review by the State Courts and ultimately the New Jersey Supreme Court, which Court he has alleged has been involved in the prosecution of the charges against him.
At the injunction hearing Helfant presented the testimony of Patrick T. McGahn, one of his attorneys, and testified himself. Relevant testimony by Helfant is set forth in the margin.3
*1192By oral opinion the district court denied preliminary injunctive relief on the ground that Younger v. Harris, supra, precluded federal intervention. It also dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim for which relief can be granted. In the posture in which this case is before us, the district court has ruled only on the legal sufficiency of the complaint, pursuant to the Rule 12(b)(6) motion. “Findings of fact are unnecessary on decisions of motions under . . . [Rule] 12. . . . ” Rule 52(a), F.R.Civ.P. Although an evidentiary hearing on the injunction request was conducted, and the court made limited findings thereon, it did not find facts with respect to the merits of Helfant’s § 1983 claim. Thus, there have been no fact-findings on the crucial issue of whether Helfant’s testimony before the grand jury was the product of his free and unconstrained will. Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 225, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973); Haynes v. Washington, 373 U.S. 503, 514, 83 S.Ct. 1336, 10 L.Ed.2d 513 (1963).
“Since Chambers v. Florida, 309 U.S. 227 [60 S.Ct. 472, 84 L.Ed. 716], [the Supreme] Court has recognized that coercion can be mental as well as physical. . . . ” Blackburn v. Alabama, 361 U.S. 199, 206, 80 S.Ct. 274, 279, 4 L.Ed.2d 242 (1960). “When a suspect speaks because he is overborne, it is immaterial whether he has been subjected to a physical or a mental ordeal.” Watts v. Indiana, 338 U.S. 49, 53, 69 S.Ct. 1347, 1350, 93 L.Ed. 1801 (1949). The decision must be freely as well as rationally made. Blackburn v. Alabama, supra, 361 U.S. at 208, 80 S.Ct. 274.
III.
Because we are reviewing a Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal order, we must take as true Helfant’s allegations that his testimony before the grand jury was not the product of a free and unconstrained will and that he is about to be tried on an indictment containing charges emanating from that coerced testimony.
Younger v. Harris, supra, 401 U.S. at 53, 91 S.Ct. at 755, holds that a federal court should not enjoin a pending state prosecution in the absence of a showing of bad faith, harassment or other “extraordinary . circumstances in which the necessary irreparable injury can be shown even in the absence of the usual prerequisites of bad faith and harass*1193ment.” Conover v. Montemuro, 477 F.2d 1073, 1080 (3d Cir. 1973); See, Lewis v. Kugler, 446 F.2d 1343 (3d Cir. 1971). Neither the Supreme Court nor this court has considered what extraordinary circumstances will justify federal intervention in a pending state prosecution. But the predicate of Younger v. Harris is an assumption that defense of the pending state prosecution affords an adequate remedy at law for the vindication of the federal constitutional right at issue. Thus, invocation of the “extraordinary circumstances” exception must bring into play the suggestion of an inability of the state forum to afford an. adequate remedy at law.
By his complaint, plaintiff alleges that he was coerced by members of the State Supreme Court into relinquishing his Fifth Amendment right not to testify before the grand jury. He asserts that he then did testify, and that, as a result, he was indicted because of his allegedly coerced testimony. Helfant also avers that a New Jersey trial court has declined his motions to dismiss indictments emanating therefrom, on the ground that they were based on his coerced testimony. See, e. g., United States v. Calandra, 414 U.S. 338, 94 S.Ct. 613, 38 L.Ed.2d 561 (1974).
Under the unusual circumstances of this ease, can it be said that the appellant may not vindicate his constitutional rights by a defense in “a single criminal prosecution”? Otherwise stated, do the administrative powers of the New Jersey Supreme Court, in the factual complex giving rise to appellant’s constitutional claims, threaten his opportunity for the vindication of his federal rights in the New Jersey state court system? Thus our analysis requires an examination of the “power parameters” of the New Jersey Supreme Court.
IV.
The New Jersey Constitution provides: “The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall be the administrative head of all the courts in the State.” Article VI, § 7, Par. 1. “The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall assign Judges of the Superior Court to the Divisions and Parts of the Superior Court, and may from time to- time transfer Judges from one assignment to another, as need appears. Assignments to the Appellate Division shall be for terms fixed by Rules of the Supreme Court.” Article VI, § 7, Par. 2.
“Thus this court is charged with responsibility for the overall performance of the judicial branch. Responsibility for a result implies power reasonably necessary to achieve it. More specifically, the power to make rules imports the power to enforce them.” In re Mattera, 34 N.J. 259, 168 A.2d 38, 45 (1961).
“The constitutional administrative power is absolute and unqualified, and our Supreme Court has characterized it as the ‘plenary responsibility for the administration of all courts in the State.’ State v. De Stasio, 49 N.J. 247, 253, 229 A.2d 636, 639, cert. den. 389 U.S. 830, 88 S.Ct. 96, 19 L.Ed.2d 89 (1967). See in re Mattera, 34 N.J. 259, 271-272, 168 A.2d 38 (1961). See also N.J.Const., Art. XI, § IV, par. 5; cf. N.J.Const., Art. VI, § VII, par. 1. Additionally, compare Kagan v. Caroselli, 30 N.J. 371, 379, 153 A.2d 17, 21 (1959), wherein the court observed that ‘[t]he Constitution places the administrative control of the municipal court in the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice. Art. VI, § 2, par. 3; Art. VI, § 7, par. 1. There is no room for divided authority.’
“The intent of the 1947 Constitutional Convention was. to vest the Supreme Court with the broadest possible administrative authority. Conceptually, such authority encompasses all facets of the internal management of our courts. Cf. Mattera, supra, 34 N.J. at 272, 168 A.2d 38. This was made clear by the Committee on the Judiciary which considered it a fundamental requirement that the courts be vested with ‘exclusive authority over administration.’ 2 Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of 1947, at 1180, 1183.” Lichter v. County of Monmouth, 114 N.J.Super. 343, 276 A.2d 382, 385-86 (1971).
*1194Thus, it becomes readily apparent that the Supreme Court of New Jersey is more than an appellate court. Its “constitutional administrative power is absolute and unqualified.” The Chief Justice “may from time to time transfer Judges from one assignment to another.” The Supreme Court may assign judges to the Appellate Division for terms fixed by its own rules. The Supreme Court is vested with formidable supervisory and administrative power extending not only to the trial court level but to the Appellate Division as well.
Given the posture of this case, requiring that we assume that the allegations charging coercion by the Supreme Court are true, the next question appears to be whether the appellant may vindicate his constitutional rights in this case in a state court system which functions under the “absolute and unqualified” administrative power of its highest court.
y.
Distilled to its essence, appellant’s argument is that the factual involvement of the New Jersey Supreme Court would destroy the objectivity of the entire state court system in processing his constitutional claim. But the schema of judicial review of federal constitutional questions presented in the state cases is not confined to the state court system. If convicted, and if persuaded that principles of federal constitutional law were not properly applied in the state system, Helfant will have the opportunity of applying for certiorari to the United States Supreme Court, 28 U.S.C. § 1257(3), and if given a custodial sentence, will have the additional right to apply to a federal forum for federal ha-beas corpus relief, 28 U.S.C. § 2254.
What complicates this particular case, however, is that the resolution of Hel-fant’s specific contention will not be confined to interpreting, refining, or defining principles of constitutional law. Critical to the eventual constitutional interpretations is the threshold determination of whether Helfant’s testimony before the grand jury was the product of a free and unconstrained will. This is not a question of law. It is a question of fact — narrative or historical facts as to what occurred and operative or constitutional facts as to the voluntariness of his actions. Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, supra, 412 U.S. at 227, 93 S.Ct. 2041. And some fact-finder must decide these.
We have not been directed to, nor has our research disclosed, any procedure by which this factual determination may be made by a jury. In New Jersey criminal law procedures, as is the ease in federal practice, ultimate facts found by criminal court juries are merely verdicts of guilty or not guilty. The factual determination of the “free and unconstrained will” question within the state system will be made by a New Jersey state judge, a state judge subject to the “absolute and unqualified” administrative power of the Supreme Court, whose findings are presumably reviewable by an Appellate Division, assignment to which shall be by terms fixed by the rules of the Supreme Court, with a possibility of ultimate review by the New Jersey Supreme Court itself.4 Thus, the *1195New Jersey state court system would play an important role in both the fact-finding process and the review thereof, although upon acceptance of certiorari, “it is [the U.S. Supreme Court’s] duty ... to examine the entire record and make an independent determination of the ultimate issue of voluntariness.” Davis v. North Carolina, 384 U.S. 737, 741-742, 86 S.Ct. 1761, 1764, 16 L.Ed.2d 895 (1966).
A litigant has come into a federal court asking for vindication of a federal constitutional right which is critically dependent upon a finding arising out of circumstances in which six of seven members of the New Jersey Supreme Court as then constituted are alleged to be directly involved. If denied federal relief, appellant will be restricted to a judicial procedure in which the resolution or modification of factual determinations would be committed to a court system under the administrative supervision of the participants in the factual complex. This presents an extremely awkward position.
VI.
To determine whether there should be an exercise of even limited federal judicial power under these circumstances requires a brief review of those fundamental principles which govern federal-state relations. Initially, the federal courts have subject matter jurisdiction of an action commenced by a person “[t]o redress the deprivation, under col- or of any State law . . . custom or usage, of any right, privilege or immunity secured by the Constitution of the United States. . . .”28 U.S.C. § 1343(3). Congress has afforded Hel-fant a remedy to bring “an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress.” 42 U.S.C. § 1983. And the Supreme Court has held that this may be by means of injunction, Mitchum v. Foster, 407 U.S. 225, 92 S. Ct. 2151, 32 L.Ed.2d 705 (1972), or by declaratory judgment, Steffel v. Thompson, 415 U.S. 452, 94 S.Ct. 1209, 39 L.Ed.2d 505 (1974).
In the sensitive and delicate area of federal-state relations, where the power of government is divided between a federation and its member states, there is no constitutional barrier, and since Mitchum v. Foster, swpra, no absolute Congressional barrier, to federal court intervention in state criminal proceedings.
“The power reserved to the states under the Constitution to provide for the determination of controversies in their courts may be restricted by federal district courts only in obedience to Congressional legislation in conformity to the judicial Article of the Constitution. Congress, by its legislation, has adopted the policy, with certain well-defined statutory exceptions, of leaving generally to the state courts the trial of criminal cases arising under state laws, subject to review by this Court of any federal questions involved.” Douglas v. City of Jeannette, 319 U.S. 157, 162-163, 63 S.Ct. 877, 880-881, 87 L.Ed. 1324 (1943).
In Stefanelli v. Minard, 342 U.S. 117, 120, 72 S.Ct. 118, 120, 96 L.Ed. 138 (1951), Mr. Justice Frankfurter emphasized that this policy of federal court restraint is based on “[t]he special delicacy of the adjustment to be preserved between federal equitable power and State administration of its own law. .” “Regardless of differences in particular cases, however, the Court’s lodestar of adjudication has been that the statute [Civil Rights Act] ‘should be construed so as to respect the proper balance between the States and the federal government in law enforcement.’ Screws v. United States, 325 U.S. 91, 108, [65 S.Ct. 1031, 89 L.Ed. 1495].” Ibid., at 121, 72 S.Ct. at 121.5
*1196Mr. Justice Black would emphasize in Younger v. Harris, supra, 401 U.S. at 44, 91 S.Ct. at 750: “This underlying reason for restraining courts of equity from interfering with criminal prosecutions is reinforced by an even more vital consideration, the notion of ‘comity,’ that is, a proper respect for state functions, a recognition of the fact that the entire country is made up of a Union of separate state governments, and a continuance of the belief that the National Government will fare best if the States and their institutions are left free to perform their separate functions in their separate ways. This, perhaps for lack of a better and clearer way to describe it, is referred to by many as ‘Our Federalism,’ and one familiar with the profound debates that ushered our Federal Constitution into existence is bound to respect those who remain loyal to the ideals and dreams of ‘Our Federalism.’ The concept does not mean blind deference to ‘States’ Rights’ any more than it means centralization of control over every important issue in our National Government and its courts. The Framers rejected both these courses. What the concept does represent is a system in which there is sensitivity to the legitimate interests of both State and National Governments, and in which the National Government, anxious though it may be to vindicate and protect federal rights and federal interests, always endeavors to do so in ways that will not unduly interfere with the legitimate activities of the States.”
Thus, federal judicial policy against intervention in state criminal proceedings is bottomed on an unwillingness for federal disturbance of “the notion of ‘comity,’ that is, a proper respect for state functions,” state institutions, and especially, state court systems. We now proceed to determine whether some minimum exercise of federal authority in these proceedings will disturb or whether it will implement this proper respect for state functions.
VII.
So posited, we reject appellant’s basic contention that he is entitled to a federal order permanently enjoining the prosecution of the indictments. “[C]ourts of equity in the exercise of their discretionary powers should [refuse] ... to interfere with or embarrass threatened proceedings in state courts save in those exceptional eases which call for the interposition of a court of equity to prevent irreparable injury which is clear and imminent; and equitable remedies infringing this independence of the states— though they might otherwise be given— should be withheld if sought on slight or inconsequential grounds.” Douglas v. City of Jeannette, supra, 319 U.S. at 163, 63 S.Ct. at 881. In the context of permanently enjoining the state prosecution, we do not find bad faith or harassment, Dombrowski v. Pfister, 380 U.S. 479, 85 S.Ct. 1116, 14 L.Ed.2d 22 (1965), nor do we find this to be one of those “exceptional cases,” Douglas v. City of Jeannette, supra, or “extraordinary circumstances in which the necessary irreparable injury can be shown even in the absence of the usual prerequisites of bad faith and harassment.” Younger v. Harris, supra, 401 U.S. at 53, 91 S.Ct. at 755. We have not been persuaded that Helfant will be precluded from asserting constitutional rights in his defense of a single criminal proceeding. Younger v. Harris, supra.
We find no reason to depart from the formidable general policy of “leaving generally to the state courts the trial of criminal cases arising under state laws, subject to review by this [Supreme] Court of any federal questions involved.” Douglas v. City of Jeannette, supra, 319 U.S. at 163, 63 S.Ct. at 881.
*1197The considerations which militate against granting a permanent injunction against the conduct of the state trials do not surface, however, when considering the limited relief of a federal declaratory judgment as to whether Helfant’s testimony before the grand jury was the product of his free and unconstrained will. If limited federal intervention is permitted, the state court system will ultimately be free to conduct the trials and appeals, if any, as an independent judiciary, free from any interference.
Since Helfant has a statutory right to have a claim for declaratory relief adjudicated in the federal courts, and will be denied the opportunity to be heard only if there is a threat to the delicate structure of comity between the federal and state systems, our next task is to examine the effect of limited federal fact-finding under these highly sensitive circumstances.
Judges in' a free society regard even the appearance of a biased decision as more harmful than a result they personally disapprove. Lord Herschell’s remark to Sir George Jessel comes to mind: “Important as it was that people should get justice, it was even more important that they should be made to feel and see that they are getting it.”6
In the context of this highly unusual factual complex, it is critical that traditional respect for an outstanding state court system be nurtured, preserved, and supported; that the state court process this indictment without the slightest suggestion that it is unable to perform its function without total objectivity, or that there be even the appearance of any infirmities. Federal court action which seeks to guarantee such an appearance and which bolsters and enhances the reputation of a state court system does not denigrate comity. Indeed, it supplies a positive affirmation of the high respect the court system of one sovereign extends to that of another. To order federal fact-finding within an extremely narrow compass, under these circumstances, comports with, rather than offends, the mutual relationship poignantly described by Justice Black as “Our Federalism.”
Such limited use of authorized power will free the New Jersey court system of any suggestion that a fact-finding on the voluntariness issue by a trial judge in this case would be influenced, consciously or unconsciously, by the “brooding omnipresence” of the New Jersey Supreme Court. At the same time if the case proceeds to a state appellate level, judges of the reviewing courts will be able to adjudicate any federal constitutional questions with maximum freedom. Moreover, if the case should proceed to the New Jersey Supreme Court, that court will not be placed in an untenable situation of being a court of review as to findings of facts in which they are allegedly participants.
We are persuaded that there will be total “sensitivity to the legitimate interests of both State and National Governments, and in which the National Government, anxious though it may be to vindicate and protect federal rights and federal interests, always endeavors to do so in ways that will not unduly interfere with the legitimate activities of the States.” Younger v. Harris, supra, 401 U.S. at 44, 91 S.Ct. at 751. Thus, by a federal resolution of this limited issue, the factual predicate of the appellant’s federal claim will be resolved in the federal forum and, at the same time, the state will be completely free to proceed with the state prosecution and therein to vindicate appellant’s constitutional rights.
Such limited declaratory relief does not have the force of an injunction, Younger v. Harris, or a declaratory judgment couched in such terms as would have “virtually the same practical impact as a formal injunction would.” Samuels v. Mackell, 401 U.S. 66, 72, 91 S.Ct. 764, 768, 27 L.Ed.2d 688 (1971). The use of the declaratory judgment here fits in precisely with the exception ar-*1198tieulated by Mr. Justice Black in Samu-els v. Mackell, 401 U.S. at 73, 91 S.Ct. at 768: “There may be unusual circumstances in which an injunction might be withheld because, despite a plaintiff’s strong claim for relief under the established standards, the injunctive remedy seemed particularly intrusive or offensive; in such a situation, a declaratory judgment might be appropriate and might not be contrary to the basic equitable doctrines governing the availability of relief.”
We are quick to recognize that it may be contended that even such limited federal intervention in a state criminal proceeding would set an unwholesome precedent. Because of the high incidence of judicial fact-finding in pretrial hearings ancillary to state prosecutions, it can be envisioned that wholesale resort to this technique would be attempted. We are persuaded that any prece-dential value to our holding is miniscule. The factors which prompt our decision also limit its precedential value. First, perforce, the operative facts are limited to the State of New Jersey, where its constitution vests in the Chief Justice and the state’s highest court the total and complete administrative control over judges of the trial level and appellate division. Second, this case alleged involvement by the Supreme Court with a municipal court judge, who allegedly was the target of state grand jury proceedings and who was summoned to appear before the Supreme Court minutes prior to a scheduled grand jury appearance. Third, it is alleged that prior to such appearance before the state’s highest court, Helfant had resolved to invoke the Fifth Amendment before the grand jury and that questioning by the Supreme Court appearance so unnerved him that he was unable to exercise a totally free will. Absent presence of these factors we see no future case receiving much precedential nourishment from the decision we reach today.7
Accordingly, the order dismissing the complaint will be reversed. The order denying the motion for a preliminary injunction will be vacated and the case will be remanded to the district court for the entry of an order temporarily enjoining the trial of Indictment No. SGJ-10-72-10 in the New Jersey courts until completion of the proceeding in the district court,8 unless the State of New Jersey stipulates to a postponement thereof. The district court proceeding shall be limited to a determination of whether Helfant’s testimony before the state grand jury on November 8, 1972, was the product of a free and unconstrained will. It shall issue a declaratory judgment setting forth its conclusions. We direct that the trial be commenced forthwith, and that the district court shall make findings of fact and conclusions of law within thirty days from the issuance of the mandate of this court. The mandate of this court shall issue forthwith.

. The plaintiff was arraigned on the Indictment SGJ 10-72-10 on February 2, 1973. Trial was originally set for May 14, 1973.
The state’s brief in support of its motion to dismiss in the district court discloses :
Plaintiff herein, Edwin Helfant, stands charged in a nine count indictment handed up by the State Grand Jury charging him with conspiring with his codefendant, Samuel Moore, to obstruct justice, with obstructing justice in connection with his codefendant, Samuel Moore, with aiding and abetting compounding a crime and with four counts of false swearing. * * * All of the substantive offenses stem from the wrongful dismissal of an atrocious assault and battery complaint which resulted from a fight in a tavern in Egg Harbor City on March 17, 1968. The false swearing counts in the indictment stem from the appearance of the defendant before the grand jury on November 8, 1972.

. Helfant’s complaint avers:
He was questioned by the Chief Justice [Weintraub] and Associate Justice Sullivan in the presence of the Court. The Chief Justice inquired of the defendant whether he thought a Judge should invoke the Fifth Amendment. Justice Sullivan asked what the plaintiff’s feelings were about a Judge sitting in judgment of other people while he himself was invoking the Fifth Amendment before a Grand Jury. He also asked plaintiff if he had sat as a Judge since invoking the Fifth Amendment. Chief Justice Wein-traub and another Justice also asked of plaintiff some questions about his son’s Bar Mitzvah, which matters were contemporaneously being considered by the State Grand Jury, including seating arrangements and who paid for the liquor. These questions also concerned an Abe Schusterman, who was a State’s witness against the plaintiff and who had appeared before the State Grand Jury. The Chief Justice also questioned plaintiff about Atlantic County Judge Thomas Rauffenbart and about an ice-making machine that was involved in an alleged pay-off in a criminal case involving Abe Schusterman, all of which matters were then being considered and investigated by the State Grand Jury which was being conducted by the defendant Joseph A. Hayden, Jr. under the direction of Attorney General Georg© F. Kugler.
The questions posed to the plaintiff by the Justices of the Supreme Court were in connection with matters then being considered by the State Grand Jury. There had been no public release of these matters, particularly the Bar Mitzvah, seating arrangements thereat, arrangements for the liquor and the gift of an ice machine. These matters had to be a portion of the raw evidence then being considered by the State Grand Jury and released and given to the Supreme Court during the pendency of the Grand Jury proceedings by defendant Deputy Attorney General Joseph A. Hayden, Jr., who was conducting the Grand Jury investigation.

. Q. Wliat was your intention with regard to appearing and testifying before the State Grand Jury on that date before you arrived at Trenton?
A. Well actually I had no intention, Mr. Perskie, because Mr. Sullivan had said something about immunity and I had already invoked the Fifth Amendment and I didn’t intend to testify about anything. I asked you in the car what are they going to give me immunity for?
Q. Were they sitting in their robes?
A. Yes, sir, X think they were; yes, sir. Q. Now what happened when you came in?
A. I walked in and without any good mornings or anything else, the Chief Justice asked me if I thought it right for a Judge to invoke the Fifth Amendment. :5s :5: s[s :¡c
Q. And what was your state of mind and your feelings as you entered those Chambers?
A. Well Mr. Perskie, I couldn't understand why they wanted me on such short notice, five minutes or ten minutes before the Grand Jury hearing and I was scared.
Q. Now you said the Chief Justice said something to you. Relate the conversation that took place as nearly as you can?
A. The Chief Justice asked me if I thought it right for a Judge to invoke the Fifth Amendment? And I said, Mr. Chief, before I can answer that I’d like to explain. He said, I don’t want to get into the merits. I just want you to answer the question. And I said, well the answer to your question is no, I don’t think it right; but I said, I would like to explain; and he. said, no explanation is necessary.
Q. Was there any other conversation?
A. Mr. Justice Sullivan, who had just been appointed and I recognized him, I never met Justice Sullivan before; asked me if I had sat in the Municipal Court since ■ I had invoked the Fifth Amendment; and I told him I had sat once in Somers Point; and he then asked, do I think it right to sit in judgment of other people when I myself had invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer certain questions that were posed to me.
Q. What did you respond?
A. I then tried to tell Justice Sullivan about the three convicts and the reports *1192that I had had of what they were saying and I felt that the only way I could protect myself, and the Chief Justice then said, we do not want to get into the merits; and I was cut off from saying any more. The Chief Justice then began to ask me about an ice maker that I was suppose to have purchased for Judge Rauffenbart and I told him I had purchased one and I had a receipt for it and cancelled check; and lie then began to inquire about this fellow Schusterman and was Schusterman at my son’s Bar Mitzvah and I tried' to explain how he happened to be there, that he supplied the novelties and the favors. The Chief Justice asked me about the seating arrangements for the Bar Mitz-vah and then lie asked me who had purchased the liquor for the Bar Mitzvah, whether Mrs. Schusterman was there and whether I had purchased any other gifts for Judge Rauffenbart. He asked if formal invitations were sent out. It was basically things pertaining to Abe Schusterman who I had known had testified on the 25th of October, one week before.
es. Now was there any file in the presence of the Chief Justice?
A. There was a file in front of the Chief Justice, Mr. Perskie, but it was closed and it was with the same brown folder that was submitted to you by Mr. Hayden in your request with the clasp on the top of it. I don’t absolutely recall Mr. Perskie, everything that went on in front of the Supreme Court.
Q. How long would you say you were totally, the total time you were before the Court?
A. It wasn’t longer than ten or twelve minutes, Mr. Perskie.
Q. And when you came out—
A. Well, there was one other question the Chief asked me and I think it was the tone, when he said, what do you intend to do today?
Q. And what did you tell him?
A. I said, Mr. Chief Justice, I am going to testify.
N.T. 22-26.

. The New Jersey Supreme Court lias set forth in detail the scope of appellate review of facts found by a trial judge: “There can be no doubt of the power of the appellate tribunals of this State ... to review the fact determinations of a trial court in all cases heard without a jury and to make new or amended findings. * * * The aim of . review ... is ... to determine whether the findings could reasonably have been reached on sufficient credible evidence present in the record. * * * But if the appellate tribunal is thoroughly satisfied that the finding is clearly a mistaken one and so plainly unwarranted that the interests of justice demand intervention and correction . . . then, and only then, it should appraise the record as if it were deciding the matter at inception and make its own findings and conclusions.” State v. Johnson, 42 N.J. 146, 199 A.2d 809, 816-818 (1964). See also, State v. Yough, 49 N.J. 587, 231 A.2d 598, 602 (1967); State v. Daly, 126 N.J.Super. 313, 314 A.2d 371, 373 (1973). The Supreme Court, in reviewing the decision of the Appellate Division, may itself deem it appropriate to conduct a de novo review. State v. Johnson, supra, 199 A.2d at 818.

. “Mr. Justice Holmes dealt with this problem in a situation especially appealing: ‘The relation of the United States and the Courts of the United States to the States and the Courts of the States is a very delicate matter that has occupied the thoughts of states*1196men and judges for a hundred years and cannot be disposed of by a summary statement that justice requires me to cut red tape and intervene.’ Memorandum of Mr. Justice Holmes in V. Sacco/Vanzetti Case, Transcript of the Record (Henry Holt & Co., 1929) 5516.” Ibid., 342 U.S. at 124-25, 72 S.Ct. at 122.

. Pound, Mechanical .Turisimidence, 8 Colum.L.Rev. 605, 606 (1968).

. There was some suggestion that this court should construe the New Jersey public employee immunity statute, N.J.S.A. 2A:81-17.-2a2 in the context of Helfant’s grand jury appearance. The litigants agree that this statute is not applicable since Helfant’s presence before the grand jury was not associated with his role as a municipal court judge, but as a private attorney.

. “A court of the United States may . . . grant an injunction to stay proceedings in a State court . . . where necessary in aid of its jurisdiction . . . . ” 28 U.S.O. § 2283.