990
Per Curiam
U. S., at 314. We nevertheless held that the conduct there "disrupt[ed] and frustrat[ed] an ongoing proceeding." Id., at 316. And we have not required that a court determine a contemnor would have repeated the misconduct but for summary punishment. While we have approved, in the context of reviewing a federal contempt order, the equitable principle that only " 'the least possible power adequate to the end proposed' should be used in contempt cases," id., at 319 (quoting Anderson v. Dunn, 6 Wheat. 204, 231 (1821)), we found that principle satisfied in the circumstances in Wilson because, during an ongoing trial, the court is justified in acting swiftly "to prevent a breakdown of the proceedings." 421 U. S., at 319. Likewise, in Sacher v. United States, 343 U. S. 1, 5 (1952), the Court upheld summary contempt convictions of counsel where the misconduct had the following characteristics: "It took place in the immediate presence of the trial judge; it consisted of breaches of decorum and disobedience in the presence of the jury of his orders and rulings upon the trial; the misconduct was professional in that it was that of lawyers" and conviction was based "upon a course of conduct long-continued in the face of warnings that it was regarded by the court as contemptuous." See also Groppi v. Leslie, 404 U. S. 496, 506 (1972). Cf. Illinois v. Allen, 397 U. S. 337, 343 (1970) ("We believe trial judges confronted with disruptive, contumacious, stubbornly defiant defendants must be given sufficient discretion to meet the circumstances of each case").
Here the trial court expressly found that respondent's questions had "permanently prejudiced the jury in favor of her client" and that the prejudice "cannot be overcome." The Court of Appeals glossed over the state-court finding, saying "we can understand Judge Pounders' concern that her two questions might prejudice jurors in favor of her client," 102 F. 3d, at 438 (emphasis added). Seriously prejudicing the jury is comparable in terms of damage to the administration of justice to the refusals to testify in Wilson. The trial court's finding that respondent's comments had prejudiced
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