Cite as: 509 U. S. 688 (1993)
Opinion of White, J.
proceedings remain acceptable. Cf. Marshall, supra, at 543. Neither Dixon nor Foster is such a case.1
The United States' second, more powerful, argument is that contempt and the underlying substantive crime constitute two separate offenses for they involve injuries to two distinct interests, the one the interest of the court in preserving its authority, the other the public's interest in being protected from harmful conduct. This position finds support in Justice Blackmunís partial dissent, see post, at 743, and is bolstered by reference to numerous decisions acknowledging the importance and role of the courts' contempt power. See, e. g., Young v. United States ex rel. Vuitton et Fils S. A., 481 U. S. 787, 800 (1987); Michaelson v. United States ex rel. Chicago, St. P., M. & O. R. Co., 266 U. S. 42, 65 (1924); Gompers v. Bucks Stove & Range Co., 221 U. S. 418, 450 (1911). It cannot lightly be dismissed. Indeed, we recognized in Young, supra, that contempt "proceedings are not intended to punish conduct proscribed as harmful by the general criminal laws. Rather, they are designed to serve the limited purpose of vindicating the authority of the court. In punishing contempt, the Judiciary is sanctioning conduct that
1 The distinction between, on the one hand, direct and summary contempt (i. e., contempt for acts occurring in the courtroom and interfering with the orderly conduct of business), and, on the other, nonsummary contempt, possesses old roots in the Court's cases. See United States v. Wilson, 421 U. S. 309 (1975); Cammer v. United States, 350 U. S. 399 (1956); Nye v. United States, 313 U. S. 33, 47-52 (1941); Cooke v. United States, 267 U. S. 517, 537 (1925); In re Savin, 131 U. S. 267 (1889); Ex parte Terry, 128 U. S. 289 (1888). See also Fed. Rule Crim. Proc. 42(a). Significantly, some courts have relied on this division to allow retrial on substantive criminal charges after a summary contempt proceeding based on the same conduct. See, e. g., United States v. Rollerson, 145 U. S. App. D. C. 338, 343, n. 13, 449 F. 2d 1000, 1005, n. 13 (1971); United States v. Mirra, 220 F. Supp. 361 (SDNY 1963). The argument goes as follows: Because summary proceedings do not really involve adversary proceedings, see Cooke, supra, they do not raise typical double jeopardy concerns and the defendant is not being subjected to successive trials. The instant cases deal exclusively with nonsummary contempt trials.
723
Page: Index Previous 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007