United States v. Balsys, 524 U.S. 666, 35 (1998)

Page:   Index   Previous  28  29  30  31  32  33  34  35  36  37  38  39  40  41  42  Next

700

UNITED STATES v. BALSYS

Stevens, J., concurring

at issue here, and the mere support of one nation for the prosecutorial efforts of another does not transform the prosecution of the one into the prosecution of the other. Cf. Bartkus v. Illinois, 359 U. S. 121, 122-124 (1959) (rejecting double jeopardy claim where federal officials turned over all evidence they had gathered in connection with federal prosecution of defendant for use in subsequent state prosecution of defendant). In this case there is no basis for concluding that the privilege will lose its meaning without a rule precluding compelled testimony when there is a real and substantial risk that such testimony will be used in a criminal prosecution abroad.

* * *

Accordingly, the judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

It is so ordered.

Justice Stevens, concurring.

While I join the Court's opinion without reservation, I write separately to emphasize these points.

The Clause that protects every person from being "compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself" is a part of the broader protection afforded by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. That Amendment constrains the power of the Federal Government to deprive any person "of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law," just as the Fourteenth Amendment imposes comparable constraints on the power of the States. The primary office of the Clause at issue in this case is to afford protection to persons whose liberty has been placed in jeopardy in an American tribunal. The Court's holding today will not have any adverse impact on the fairness of American criminal trials.

The fact that the issue in this case has been undecided for such a long period of time suggests that our ruling will have

Page:   Index   Previous  28  29  30  31  32  33  34  35  36  37  38  39  40  41  42  Next

Last modified: October 4, 2007