Case library · The Red Scare
He Would Not Name Others
Deutch v. United States (1961)
Charge: Contempt of Congress (refusing to answer questions pertinent to a congressional inquiry, 2 U.S.C. 192)Court: U.S. Supreme CourtState: District of ColumbiaDocket: The Red Scare
The facts
A former student was called before a congressional committee investigating communist activity. He answered freely about his own party membership and his own activity at his university. But he refused to name five other people he had known there. The committee's stated subject was communist infiltration in a different part of the country, more than a hundred and sixty miles from his university. The law makes it a crime to refuse only a question that is pertinent to the inquiry.
You have the facts the court had. Guilty or not guilty? Call it in the game with your friends, then see what the court actually decided. Wrong call, you drink.
Citation: Deutch v. United States, 367 U.S. 456 (1961)
Read more at supreme.justia.com. The source reveals the outcome.