United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

United States v. Norris, 300 U.S. 564 (1937)

United States v. Norris

No. 600

Argued March 11, 1937

Decided March 29, 1937

300 U.S. 564

Syllabus

1. A Resolution of the Senate, reciting that the Senate desired facts to aid it in enacting remedial legislation and in deciding contests involving senatorial elections, authorized a committee to investigate the campaign expenditures of the various candidates for the United States Senate, the names of the persons subscribing, the amount contributed, the method of expenditure, and all facts in relation thereto, with power to call witnesses. A person who had attempted to file in a primary election of candidates for the office of United States Senator, but whose application had been rejected by the State Supreme Court as too late, was called before the committee, and, being sworn, testified that he had received no financial support, or assurance of it, for his campaign.

Held:

(1) That the inquiry was within the competency of Congress and the committee. P. 573.

(2) That, within the meaning of the perjury statute (Criminal Code, § 125) it was a case in which a law of the United States (2 U.S.C.191) authorized the oath to be administered. Id.

(3) That the testimony was material to the inquiry. Id.

2. A witness who commits willful perjury in violation of § 125 of the federal Criminal Code cannot purge himself of the offense by appearing at a later stage of the inquiry and recanting the false testimony. P. 300 U. S. 573.

86 F.2d 379 reversed.

Certiorari, post, p. 647, to review a judgment reversing a conviction for perjury in an inquiry by a committee of the Senate.

Page 300 U. S. 568