988
Per Curiam
fense. Such summary vindication of the court's dignity and authority is necessary. It has always been so in the courts of the common law and the punishment imposed is due process of law." Id., at 534-535.
As we have recognized, however, the contempt power may be abused. We have held the summary contempt exception to the normal due process requirements, such as a hearing, counsel, and the opportunity to call witnesses, "includes only charges of misconduct, in open court, in the presence of the judge, which disturbs the court's business, where all of the essential elements of the misconduct are under the eye of the court, are actually observed by the court, and where immediate punishment is essential to prevent 'demoralization of the court's authority' before the public." In re Oliver, 333 U. S. 257, 275 (1948) (quoting Cooke, supra, at 536). We have stressed the importance of confining summary
contempt orders to misconduct occurring in court. Where misconduct occurs in open court, the affront to the court's dignity is more widely observed, justifying summary vindication. See In re Green, 369 U. S. 689, 692 (1962) (relying on due process cases); Harris v. United States, 382 U. S. 162, 164 (1965) (defining boundary between summary and ordinary contempt under Fed. Rule Crim. Proc. 42).
United States v. Wilson, 421 U. S. 309 (1975), sheds light on the case before us. In Wilson, the prosecution called two witnesses who, in open court, refused to testify. The United States District Court granted immunity and ordered them to answer. The witnesses still refused, and the court summarily held them in contempt. We noted that although the witnesses' refusals to testify were "not delivered disrespectfully," id., at 314, their conduct nevertheless justified summary contempt under Rule 42(a). It was not intimated that the contempt convictions there violated due process. "The face-to-face refusal to comply with the court's order itself constituted an affront to the court, and when that kind of refusal disrupts and frustrates an ongoing proceeding, as it
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