838
Opinion of the Court
disinterested factfinding and evenhanded adjudication were essential, and petitioners were entitled to a criminal jury trial.
In reaching this conclusion, we recognize that this Court generally has deferred to a legislature's determination whether a sanction is civil or criminal, see, e. g., United States v. Ward, 448 U. S. 242, 248 (1980); Helvering v. Mitchell, 303 U. S. 391 (1938), and that "[w]hen a State's proceedings are involved, state law provides strong guidance about whether or not the State is exercising its authority 'in a non-punitive, noncriminal manner.' " Hicks, 485 U. S., at 631, quoting Allen v. Illinois, 478 U. S. 364, 368 (1986). We do not deviate from either tradition today. Where a single judge, rather than a legislature, declares a particular sanction to be civil or criminal, such deference is less appropriate. Cf. Madsen v. Women's Health Center, Inc., ante, p. 753. Moreover, this Court has recognized that even for state proceedings, the label affixed to a contempt ultimately "will not be allowed to defeat the applicable protections of federal constitutional law." Hicks v. Feiock, 485 U. S., at 631. We conclude that the serious contempt fines imposed here were criminal and constitutionally could not be imposed absent a jury trial.
III
Our decision concededly imposes some procedural burdens on courts' ability to sanction widespread, indirect contempts of complex injunctions through noncompensatory fines. Our holding, however, leaves unaltered the longstanding authority of judges to adjudicate direct contempts summarily, and to enter broad compensatory awards for all contempts through civil proceedings. See, e. g., Sheet Metal Workers v. EEOC, 478 U. S. 421 (1986). Because the right to trial by
or both") (repealed 1984). We need not answer today the difficult question where the line between petty and serious contempt fines should be drawn, since a $52 million fine unquestionably is a serious contempt sanction.
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