Cite as: 518 U. S. 322 (1996)
Kennedy, J., concurring in judgment
turned on the absence of a statutory maximum sentence for criminal contempt. Ante, at 328. The absence of a statutory maximum sentence, however, has nothing whatever to do with whether a court must aggregate the penalties that are in fact imposed for each crime. Indeed, we know the open-ended penalty to which Codispoti was subject was not the reason he was entitled a jury trial because Taylor, decided the same day, held that a defendant who was subject to the same kind of open-ended sentencing was not entitled to trial by jury because the sentence he received did not in fact exceed six months. Taken together, Codispoti and Taylor stand for the proposition the Court now rejects: Sentences for petty offenses must be aggregated in determining whether a defendant is entitled to a jury trial. Cf. State v. McCarroll, 337 So. 2d 475, 480 (La. 1976) (concluding Codispoti compelled it to overrule Monroe v. Wilhite, 233 So. 2d 535 (La.), cert. denied, 400 U. S. 910 (1970), which had held the Sixth Amendment did not require aggregation of penalties for petty offenses to determine whether a defendant is entitled to a jury trial).
The Court next suggests Codispoti's holding was based on "the special concerns raised by the criminal contempt context." Ante, at 328. The Codispoti Court was indeed cognizant of the need "to maintain order in the courtroom and the integrity of the trial process," 418 U. S., at 513, and so approved summary conviction and sentencing for criminal contempt, "where the necessity of circumstances warrants," id., at 514. The Court made clear that under those circumstances, a judge may sentence a defendant to more than six months' imprisonment for more than one contempt without empaneling a jury. Id., at 514-515. The Court went on to hold, however, that when the judge postpones the contempt trial until after the immediate proceedings have concluded, the "ordinary rudiments of due process" apply. Id., at 515. The "ordinary" rule required aggregation of penal-
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