monia argued december decided january appeal district northern district illinois edward miller washington appellant hodson chicago appellees justice roberts delivered opinion direct appeal district northern illinois prosecuted pursuant criminal appeals act presents question upon lower federal courts sharply divided question whether one obedience subpoena appears grand jury inquiring alleged violation sherman act gives testimony oath substantially touching alleged offense obtains immunity prosecution offense pursuant terms sherman act although claim privilege incrimination sherman provides part person shall prosecuted subjected penalty forfeiture account transaction matter thing concerning may testify produce evidence documentary otherwise proceeding suit prosecution said acts interstate commerce act sherman act acts provided person testifying shall exempt prosecution punishment perjury committed testifying statute supplemented act june far material immunity provisions act others immunity shall extend natural person obedience subpoena gives testimony oath produces evidence documentary otherwise oath indictment returned charging corporations individuals including two appellees conspiracy fix prices violation sherman act appellees filed special pleas bar alleging obedience subpoena duly served appeared witness grand jury inquiring respecting matters charged indictment gave testimony substantially connected transactions covered indictment question made testimony given substantially relate transactions subject indictment demurred pleas insufficient since neither alleged witness asserted claim privilege therefore neither fifth amendment constitution immunity statute avail district overruled demurrers ground plain mandate statute precluded prosecution appellees whether claimed privilege hold decision right beyond dispute appellees entitled immunity prosecution statute given effect written asked however read qualification effect immunity obtained unless privilege claimed much statute addressed privilege privilege accorded fifth amendment said immunity offered substitute privilege immunity like privilege claimed thus statute fifth amendment pari materia given consistent construction second place urged qualification right terms statute necessary order avoid unreasonable unfair unintended result argument runs statute construed automatically grant immunity without claim privilege prosecutor disadvantage since know whether extent witness may participated crime runs risk unintentionally affording immunity hand said witness full knowledge nature conduct possible incrimination testimony unfair require claim privilege put prosecutor notice insists upon testimony witness obtain immunity well understood course legislation adoption statute involved legislative history compel rejection contentions fifth amendment declares person shall compelled criminal case witness investigation grand jury criminal case amendment speaks compulsion preclude witness testifying voluntarily matters may incriminate therefore desires protection privilege must claim considered within meaning amendment seventy years ago congress advised suits prosecuted evidence sought certain persons used government interposed claim privilege sustained courts order forestall obstruction delay incident judicial determination validity witness claim order obtain necessary evidence even though claim well founded congress adopted act february became act applied judicial proceedings provided effect evidence obtained witness used criminal proceeding counselman hitchcock held act unconstitutional prevented use evidence witness preclude prosecution result information gained testimony indicated clearly nothing short absolute immunity justify compelling witness testify claimed privilege original interstate commerce contained immunity provision form held invalid counselman case meet decision case congress passed act february applied proceedings interstate commerce act et seq statute however became model immunity provisions enacted various times including act february supra concerned sustained constitutionality acts district northern district illinois held armour voluntary appearance furnishing testimony information without subpoena operated confer immunity prosecution sherman act held immunity conferred broader privilege given fifth amendment decision attracted public interest since stood one immunize prosecution volunteering information investigatory bodies congress promptly adopted act june supra providing immunity extend natural person obedience subpoena testified produced evidence oath congressional record shows sole purpose bill exactly language senator knox sponsored bill stated president purpose bill clear range broad intended cover disputed provisions rights witnesses circumstances except enumerated bill evident congress earlier legislation opened door practice whereby government might trapped conferring unintended immunity witnesses volunteering testify amendment thought congressional record demonstrates sufficient protect government interests preventing immunity unless prosecuting officer government official concerned compel witness attendance subpoena sworn congress evidence intent witness desired immunity must addition assert constitutional privilege series acts adopted additional provision inserted adding requirement acts indicate simple add similar provision applicable interstate commerce act sherman act others allowed stand originally enacted save amending act legislation involved instant case plain terms face means layman subpoenaed sworn testifies immunity instead trap government original act statutes question interpreted government desires may well trap witness congress evidently intended afford government officials choice subpoenaing witness putting oath knowledge complete immunity prosecution respecting matter substantially connected transactions respect testified retaining right prosecute foregoing opportunity examine congress intend statutes issue provide addition witness must claim privilege seems clear us add legislation congress pretermitted referred diversity views amongst lower courts government insists settled question favor view reliance upon heike case however decided immunity conferred legislation question intended protect witness extent fifth amendment protects question whether immunity extended prosecution crimes matters testified remotely connected held amendment justify claim privilege remote contingencies immunity likewise construed reach question necessity witness investigatory body claiming privilege order earn immunity decided judgment affirmed affirmed justice frankfurter dissenting beyond dispute constitution compel congress afford immunity prosecution testify without invoking constitutional privilege question decision whether act june stat amending immunity provision act february stat congress granted constitution requires offered crime heike conferring immunity persons testify without claiming protection privilege way indicate testimony given return statutory immunity words congress amendment seek facilitate enforcement law making available compulsory otherwise got passing act amnesty question answered closing eyes everything except naked words act june notion words statute plain meaning also plain merely pernicious oversimplification wooden english doctrine rather recent vintage see plucknett concise history common law amos interpretation statutes davies interpretation statutes lip service occasion given since days marshall rejected especially practice fisher cranch boston sand american trucking statute like living organisms derives significance sustenance environment severed without mutilated especially true statute like one us part legislative process history purpose meaning statute gained confining inquiry within four corners historic process legislation incomplete gave rise well gave rise yield true meaning must turn history federal immunity provisions earliest federal statute dealing immunity act january stat amended act january stat legislation relating testimony either house congress furnished model later immunity provisions congress careful state precisely immunity given witness shall hereafter allowed refuse testify fact produce paper stat italics added refusal testify refusal appear witness congress took away gave immunity duty privilege lies core duty testify privilege relieves duty classic phrase lord chancellor hardwicke public right every man evidence duty give testimony qualified common law privilege fifth amendment embodied privilege fundamental law privilege privilege withhold answers privilege limit range public inquiry constitution forbid asking criminative questions provides witness compelled answer questions unless full substitute constitutional privilege given counselman hitchcock compulsion privilege entitles witness resist compulsion answer questions justifiably claims tend incriminate constitution protect refusal obey process subpoena course process merely summons appear wigmore evidence ed never privilege disregard duty subpoena calls congress turned device immunity legislation therefore provide performance universal duty appear undertake give something nothing refusal give incriminating testimony congress bargained refusal give testimony exchange testimony got heike witness invocation constitutional rights congress conferred immunity use testimony instead giving constitutional equivalent privilege congress long time give enough see counselman hitchcock invalidating act february stat first immunity statute relating judicial proceedings order remove gap act gave constitution construed require congress promptly passed act february stat order interrupt effective enforcement interstate commerce act debates reveal congress acted understanding counselman decision indicated adequate legislative alternative see remarks senator cullom july act followed language act january providing person shall excused attending testifying producing books stat italics added brown walker found act satisfies constitutional guaranty protection indication belief congress given anything indeed bare majority thought statute given much constitution required certainly beginning century therefore congress displayed magnanimity criminals affording amnesty crimes indeed sensitive congress immunizing crime entrusted prosecutors generally power relieve witnesses prosecution exchange incriminating evidence others part legislative program correction corporate abuses congress february included provisions immunity three additional measures act february stat establishing department commerce labor conferring upon commissioner corporations investigatory powers possessed interstate commerce commission elkins amendment february stat interstate commerce act act february stat making large appropriations enforcement interstate commerce act sherman law enactments latter provision amended act immediately us startling decision district judge humphrey armour suggestion seriously made congress studiously fashioning constitutional equivalent privilege playing lady bountiful criminals particular concerns armour opinion stirred must heeded provoked act meaning legislation lost unless derived circumstances gave rise case arose proceeding begun act february stat creating department commerce labor section act provided secretary commerce labor shall time time make special investigations reports may required either house congress obedience resolution house representatives secretary directed commissioner corporations investigate causes low prices beef cattle accordingly commissioner instituted inquiry conference officers packing corporations counsel commissioner explained purposes scope investigation informed acting independently cooperation department justice contemporaneous proceeding trust alleged violations sherman law note evidence obtained packers given department reported president appropriate use doc thereupon commissioner agents afforded opportunity examine packers books papers subsequently indictment sherman law found packing corporations officers pleas bar filed alleging substance result investigation made commissioner corporations defendants obtained immunity prosecution offenses charged indictment judge humphrey sustained pleas individual defendants ground information furnished defendants brought operation immunity provision act february incorporated reference act february stat relating testimony interstate commerce commission judge humphrey reached conclusion attributing congress passing act february purpose later unanimously rejected heike judge humphrey correctly held privilege amendment permits refusal answer also stated quite incorrectly without warrant language legislative history policy act statute offense witness might refused answer page words district judge treated immunity act though act amnesty precisely heike case said course clear distinction amnesty constitutional protection party compelled criminal case witness amendment obvious purpose statute act february make evidence available compulsory otherwise got see reason supposing act offered gratuity crime construed far words fairly allow construction coterminous otherwise privilege person concerned believe policy earlier act february chap stat read person shall excused attending testifying etc person shall prosecuted thus showing correlation constitutional right immunity form page page judge humphrey doubtless fell error treated immunity provision subsidiary main purpose conceived act establishing department commerce labor believed primary purpose act information use legislative body page plain view immunity provisions true light means facilitate administration criminal law whatever justification judge humphrey may entertaining notion regard act creating department commerce labor certainly application immunity provisions touching interstate commerce act et sherman law note provisions enacted aids enforcement criminal justice acts amnesty designed wipe criminal offenses acting swiftly correct error armour decision president recommended congress pass declaratory act set aside judge humphrey misconception congressional purpose message president april doc president theodore roosevelt acting upon advice attorney general soon become justice moody naturally enough declaratory legislation directed correction two evils judge humphrey opinion projected namely make clear immunity afforded producing corporate documents event privilege available porations wilson person give evidence ordinary formalities incident witness entitled immunity legislation responsive government position stated attorney general moody facts armour case government contended statutory immunity conferred upon persons subpoenaed commissioner corporations might subsequently give testimony evidence legal sense terms relating matter indictment doc limited purpose amendment president proposed congress enacted restrictive declaration regarding scope immunity provision order prevent courts following latitudinarian misconception judge humphrey president congress acting upon advice one ablest attorneys general unwittingly betrayed introducing new gratuity witnesses duty respond subpoena giving amnesty exchange mere response seventeen years thereafter unquestioned congress given constitution prosecution evidence otherwise obtained evidence withheld upon claim constitutional privilege evidence given congress provided immunity ruling federal courts considered question courts sat ablest judges martin heike judge grubb skinner judge hunt elton judge rose johnson narrow purpose amendment light events gave rise succinctly set forth judge rose clearly act two things intended made clear immunity granted inure benefit corporations natural person claim unless testified obedience subpoena passed meet serious situation president congress thought created rulings judge humphrey clearly intended change previously existing law respect construction given result grand jury prosecuting officer unwittingly conferring immunity upon serious offender best good faith reason suppose criminally involved transaction subpoenaed produce documents give testimony perhaps well obtained sources unquestionably witness constitutional right object testifying open government elect whether proceed examination statute rights remain called stand johnson observations judge grubb skinner equally pertinent witness many cases alone informed whether evidence tend incriminate supposed incrimination may relate offenses investigation examining tribunal existence relation desired evidence examining tribunal government law officer may knowledge heike case apt illustration possibility witness likely exclusive knowledge facts answers may tend incrimination reference offenses witness alone knows whether willingly gives evidence purpose exonerating expectation receiving immunity therefor therefore better position called upon assert constitutional privilege examining tribunal law officer government call upon elect hardship attends imposition burden witness never considered weighty enough relieve therefrom exercising constitutional privilege prior immunity statutes immunity granted statute mere substitute constitutional safeguard held coterminous seem therefore reason different practice assertion privilege immunity desired constitutional privilege insisted upon decisions thus reflected weighty considerations policy finding congress afforded immunity prosecution extent constitution required exchange privilege congress giving away indulgences considerations policy certainly answered opinion texas district made first departure uniform construction statute held immunity came merely one testified obedience subpoena without claim either explicit implied circumstances constitutional right refuse answer ground might thereby incriminated testimony given compulsion immunity statute pardue stated position supported weight authority citing decision judge humphrey armour case swift opinion far relevant question seems point clearly way see especially pages state murphy much questioned originally repudiated rendered carchidi state state grosnickle decision new york appeals people sharp considering reasons control district unconscionableness claim government statute grants general amnesty persons appear testify obedience subpoena compel testify thereafter break faith denying protection statute testify exact accordance terms page starting misconception immunity provision act amnesty quid pro quo constitutional privilege district readily glided finding breach faith contesting claim amnesty confusion avoided act amnesty act gives immunity order make evidence available compulsory otherwise got withheld upon claim constitutional privilege becomes clear witness requiring claim constitutional privilege affording substitute witness entrapped requirement must stand upon constitutional rights desires protection immunity statute none one thing find incriminating answers given witness given setting particular circumstances allowed withhold quite another suggest one appears witness merely appearance obedience subpoena thereby obtain immunity account transaction matter thing concerning may testify even though incrimination may relate transaction wholly foreign inquiry testimony given even though alert conscientious prosecutor slightest inkling testimony led trail construction makes immunity statute history clearly reveals namely carefully devised instrument achievement criminal justice measure gratuitous relief criminals statute reflects judgment congress public right every man evidence us relax demands society upon citizens appear proceedings enforce laws enacted public good beginning securities act stat congress enacted less seventeen regulatory measures contain provisions immunity prosecution exchange incriminating testimony fourteen including inter alia securities exchange act stat national labor relations act stat et communications act stat public utility holding company act stat federal power act stat civil aeronautics act stat confer immunity person testifies compulsion claimed privilege nation three statutes however motor carrier act stat industrial alcohol act stat fair labor standards act stat contain additional merely follow old form customarily used congress prior securities act course difference language statutory provisions process construing statute end noting literary differences task one finding meaning difference words necessarily difference meaning carry question whether provisions different whether significance difference difference language reflected difference scope immunity given nature considerations moved congress make differentiation surely indication however faint somewhere legislative history enactments legislator aware difference language significance none congress saw fit gratuitously confer immunity citizens appear witnesses proceedings enforce motor carrier act august hard understand give immunity asserting privilege pressed give evidence proceedings enforce federal power act august proceedings enforce public utility holding company act became law day given privilege gratuitiously industrial alcohol act became law following day railroad unemployment insurance act stat fair labor standards act stat et became law day june yet immunity provision former contains claimed etc clause latter fair congress assume purpose make difference demands upon citizens appear witnesses one statute rather purpose stated somewhere course legislative history total absence indication anywhere congressman notion enforcement motor carrier act industrial alcohol act fair labor standards act called different treatment witnesses proceedings acts enforcement proceedings fourteen acts explanation seems obvious expressions legislative materials indicate legislative purpose varied respect acts difference purpose variations phraseology employed acts explained away caprices single draftsman explanation likely found manner congress usually acts adopting regulatory legislation single draftsman drafted provisions seventeen statutes might reason believing difference language reflected difference meaning common knowledge measures frequently drawn least first instance specialists perhaps connected interested government departments various fields provisions different measures dealing procedural problem unnaturally therefore lack uniformity phrasing look far order see congress happened use one form immunity provision statutes another form others consider evolution three statutes followed old form motor carrier act enacted amendment interstate commerce act natural enforcement provisions old act incorporated reference providing new powers commission stat industrial alcohol act far enforcement provisions concerned patterned upon predecessor national prohibition act stat et draftsman naturally took immunity provision statute fair labor standards act complicated even revealing history introduced first senate may carried explicit provision person gains immunity claimed privilege remained form throughout course legislation house senate nearly year whole conception bill changed everything struck enacting clause new measure submitted house april part new bill provision attendance witnesses enforcement act simply incorporated reference provision federal trade commission act et obviously draftsmen new bill drew heavily upon scheme act utter want evidence support suggestion year proponents legislation committees grappled problems changed minds extent immunity afforded witnesses summoned proceedings act evidence debates congress finally passed measure present form meant give greater immunity provided various bills senate house year course taken securities act finally enacted revealing significance immunity provision first depart old form time bills eventually became act emerged conference immunity provision followed old form new formula appears first time bill reported conference neither conference report elsewhere suggestion introduction phrase imported new legislative purpose anything careful rephrasing conventional statutory provision case fair labor standards act seen meticulous phrase claimed privilege successive bills house senate disappeared final stage enactment measure one ever suggested far available materials show change formula implied change intended scope immunity provision style substance obviously explanation case one statute congress began new form ended old one case began old one ended new upon rational basis attribute congress intention make scope immunity provision one statute vitally different attribute caprice congress respect rational purpose find uniform policy deeply rooted history even though variously phrased always directed end meeting constitutional requirement therefore opinion appearance response subpoena confer immunity prosecution anything witness responding may testify must conscious surrender privilege silence course testimonial inquiry course form words necessary claim one privilege circumstances may establish claim must manifestation surrender privilege prosecutor insistence upon disclosure immunity prosecution withheld alone immunity given history reason alike reject notion immunity prosecution squandered giving gratuitously responding duty owed everyone appear summoned witness since demurrers pleas sustained case remanded district appropriate disposition accordance views herein expressed justice douglas joins dissent footnotes act march stat amended act may stat compare armour skinner elton lee johnson lay fish greater new york live poultry pardue ward moore goldman act february stat stat counselman hitchcock ex rel vajtauer commissioner cong globe pp stat stat stat brown walker see securities exchange act stat investment advisers act stat may due thoroughness preliminary investigation classes cases question congress believed government representatives needed warning result subpoenaing witness examining oath debate house lords bill indemnify evidence hansard parliamentary history england may quoted wigmore evidence ed significant heike case held reason supposing immunity act offered gratuity crime page page cited neither case judge hutcheson pardue case cases following pardue ruling ward moore goldman