Facts of the Case

Provided by Justia

The plaintiff in error having been convicted in the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Missouri of a violation of the Revised Statutes of the United States, sec. 1782, and set forth in the margin, * has brought the case here directly from that court by writ of error.

Conclusions

  1. A Senator of the United States was indicted and tried in the Eastern District of Missouri for a violation of § 1782, Rev.Stat., the indictment averring that he had rendered services for a certain corporation before the Post Office Department in matters in which the United States was interested -- that is, whether a "fraud order" should issue against such corporation -- and that he had received payment at St. Louis therefor. The defendant denied that the United States was interested in the matters referred to in the indictment within the meaning of § 1782, Rev.Stat., or that he had rendered any service in violation thereof, and alleged that the services which he had rendered to, and had been paid for by, the corporation, were those of general counsel, and not connected with the "fraud order." It was proved without contradiction that the compensation he received under certain counts was sent to him from St. Louis and received by him in Washington in the form of checks on a St. Louis bank which he deposited in his bank in Washington, receiving credit therefor at once, and which checks were subsequently paid in due course. On the trial, the jurisdiction of the court was denied, the offense, if any there was, having been committed at Washington, and not at St. Louis, and the defendant also asserted his privilege from arrest under § 6, Art. I of the Constitution. The court held that the privilege from arrest was waived, and submitted to the jury whether there was any agreement by which the place of payment of the checks was St. Louis, and not Washington. Held that, The facts alleged in the indictment showed a case that is covered by the provisions of § 1782, Rev.Stat. Whether a Senator of the United States has waived his privilege from arrest and whether such privilege is personal only or given for the purpose of always securing a representation of his state in the Senate are not frivolous questions, and, if properly raised in the court below and denied, this Court has jurisdiction to issue the writ of error directly to the district court, and then to decide the case without being restricted to the constitutional question.