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Midland Asphalt Corp. v. U.S., 489 U.S. 794 (1989)
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General SummaryThis case is from a collection containing the full text of over 16,000 Supreme Court cases from 1793 to the present. The body of Supreme Court decisions are, effectively, the final interpretation of the Constitution. Only an amendment to the Constitution can permanently overturn an interpretation and this has happened only four times in American history.
Midland Asphalt Corp. v. U.S., 489 U.S. 794 (1989)
Midland Asphalt Corp. v. United States No. 87-1905 Argued January 17, 1989 Decided March 28, 1989 489 U.S. 794
CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR
THE SECOND CIRCUIT
Syllabus
Petitioners moved to dismiss a federal indictment against them on the ground, inter alia, that the prosecution had violated Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e)(2) -- which generally prohibits public disclosure by Government attorneys of "matters occurring before the grand jury" -- by filing, in a separate criminal case, a memorandum disclosing matters before the grand jury in this case. After the District Court denied the motion, the Court of Appeals granted the Government’s motion to dismiss petitioners’ appeal for lack of jurisdiction on the ground that the District Court’s order was not an immediately appealable "final decision" under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. The court rejected petitioners’ contention that United States v. Mechanik, 475 U.S. 66, which held that an alleged violation of Rule 6(d) was rendered harmless beyond a reasonable doubt by a petit jury’s guilty verdict, would render orders of this sort "effectively unreviewable on appeal from a final judgment," Coopers & Lybrand v. Livesay, 437 U.S. 463, 468, and immediately appealable under the collateral order exception to the final judgment rule.
Held: A district court order denying a defendant’s motion to dismiss an indictment for an alleged violation of Rule 6(e) is not immediately appealable under § 1291. Since petitioners have not yet been sentenced, the District Court’s order is not a final judgment ending the litigation on the merits. Moreover, whatever view is taken of the scope of Mechanik (an issue not resolved here), an order such as that at issue does not satisfy the stringent requirements of the Coopers v. Lybrand test. There is no merit in petitioners’ contention that such orders are "effectively unreviewable" once trial has been held because they pertain to a right not merely not to be convicted, but a right not to be tried at all. Neither the text of Rule 6(e) nor the Grand Jury Clause of the Fifth Amendment affords a right not to be tried (in the sense relevant for the collateral order doctrine) in the event of a violation of grand jury secrecy. Pp. 798-802.
840 F.2d 1040, affirmed.
SCALIA, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.
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Chicago: U.S. Supreme Court, "Syllabus," Midland Asphalt Corp. v. U.S., 489 U.S. 794 (1989) in 489 U.S. 794 489 U.S. 795. Original Sources, accessed November 24, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=CR44B2BTP5U4WLU.
MLA: U.S. Supreme Court. "Syllabus." Midland Asphalt Corp. v. U.S., 489 U.S. 794 (1989), in 489 U.S. 794, page 489 U.S. 795. Original Sources. 24 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=CR44B2BTP5U4WLU.
Harvard: U.S. Supreme Court, 'Syllabus' in Midland Asphalt Corp. v. U.S., 489 U.S. 794 (1989). cited in 1989, 489 U.S. 794, pp.489 U.S. 795. Original Sources, retrieved 24 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=CR44B2BTP5U4WLU.
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