520
Opinion of the Court
for respondent today while still adhering to the reasoning and the holding of that case.
But the reasoning of Sinclair has already been repudiated in a number of respects. The opinion rested upon the assumption that "pertinency" is a pure question of law—that is, it does "not depend upon the probative value of evidence." Ibid. We contradicted that assumption in Deutch v. United States, 367 U. S. 456 (1961), reversing a conviction under § 192 because "the Government at the trial failed to carry its burden of proving the pertinence of the questions." Id., at 469. Though it had introduced documentary and testimonial evidence "to show the subject of the subcommittee's inquiry," it had failed to provide evidence to support the conclusion that the petitioner's false statement was pertinent to that subject.
Our holding in Sinclair rested also upon the assertion that "[i]t would be incongruous and contrary to well-established principles to leave the determination of [the] matter [of pertinency] to a jury," 279 U. S., at 299, citing ICC v. Brimson, 154 U. S. 447, 489 (1894), and Horning v. District of Columbia, 254 U. S. 135 (1920). Both the cases cited to support that assertion have since been repudiated. Brimson's holding that no right to jury trial attaches to criminal contempt proceedings was overruled in Bloom v. Illinois, 391 U. S. 194, 198-200 (1968). Horning's holding that it was harmless error, if error at all, for a trial judge effectively to order the jury to convict, see 254 U. S., at 138, has been proved an unfortunate anomaly in light of subsequent cases. See Quercia v. United States, 289 U. S. 466, 468, 472 (1933); Bihn v. United States, 328 U. S. 633, 637-639 (1946). Other reasoning in Sinclair, not yet repudiated, we repudiate now. It said that the question of pertinency "may be likened to those concerning relevancy at the trial of issues in court," which "is uniformly held [to be] a question of law" for the court. 279 U. S., at 298. But how relevancy is treated for purposes of determining the admissibility of evi-
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