18 U.S.C. § 401(2), 18 U.S.C.A. § 401(2) empowers a court of the United States to punish as contempt 'Misbehavior of any of its officers in their official transactions * * *.' Petitioner, a lawyer, sent a questionnaire to a District of Columbia grand jury. For this, the District Court found petitioner guilty of contempt and fined him $100. 122 F.Supp. 388. In so doing the court held that within the meaning of the statute petitioner was one 'of its officers' and that sending the questionnaire was 'misbehavior' in an 'official transaction.' The Court of Appeals affirmed, Circuit Judge Fahy dissenting. 96 U.S.App.D.C. 30, 223 F.2d 322. The construction of the statute raised such important questions that we granted certiorari. 350 U.S. 817, 76 S.Ct. 55. A rather detailed statement of the facts, which are not in dispute, will point up the broad scope given the statute in sustaining this conviction.
A District of Columbia grand jury returned an indictment against Ben Gold, charging him with having filed a false non-Communist affidavit in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001, 18 U.S.C.A. § 1001. Petitioner promptly appeared as his attorney. Shortly thereafter the same grand jury summoned two of Mr. Gold's associates, commanding them to appear and produce documents. Petitioner appeared for them and moved to quash and vacate the subpoenas. On the same day or the next, petitioner mailed from New York identical letters and questionnaires to all members of the grand jury who were employees of the Federal Government. In the letters petitioner told the grand jurors that as Mr. Gold's attorney he was trying to learn the effect of the Government's loyalty program on federal employee jurors. Explaining that he wanted no information concerning proceedings or deliberations of the grand jury, he asked the jurors to answer his questions on the ground that it was their duty as citizens 'to help enlighten the court on an issue which affects the liberty of a citizen on trial in a criminal case.' All of the questions were directed toward learning whether the government employee jurors might be influenced by bias or fear to indict persons charged with having had some association with the Communist Party. On the basis of these facts, the District Court ordered petitioner to appear and show cause why he should not be adjudged guilty of contempt under 18 U.S.C. § 401(2), 18 U.S.C.A. § 401(2).
Petitioner appeared and answered the charges. He admitted the facts just stated but denied that his conduct constituted contempt within the meaning of the statute. His answer set out the following additional facts which are not disputed:
Prior to the return of the indictment against Mr. Gold in the District of Columbia, two federal grand juries in New York had investigated this same alleged offense but returned no indictment. Immediately after Mr. Gold was arraigned in the District of Columbia Court, petitioner learned from a roster of the grand jury obtained from the clerk that 13 members of the grand jury-a majority-were government employees. Petitioner decided to make a motion challenging the legal qualifications of the government employee jurors. He concluded that this could be done under Federal Rule 6(b) of the Rules of Criminal Procedure, 18 U.S.C.A., relying in part on this Court's statement in Dennis v. United States, 339 U.S. 162, 171-172, 70 S.Ct. 519, 523, 94 L.Ed. 734, that 'Preservation of the opportunity to prove actual bias is a guarantee of a defendant's right to an impartial jury.'