blue ribbon jury system on the ground that it had not
been shown that the selection there involved was delib-
erately discriminatory. ⁹

The right of government employees to sit as jurors in
criminal cases in the District of Columbia has troubled the
courts for some time. In the Frazier case ¹⁰ the trial
jury was entirely composed of employees. Justice Rutledge,
for the majority, could find no objection, since the pos-
sibility of actual bias had been thoroughly canvassed. Jus-
tices Jackson, Frankfurter, Douglas and Murphy dissented
on the ground that today a government employee cannot
"be disinterested or unconcerned about his appearance
of faithful and enthusiastic support for government
departments."

This rule was followed in the Dennis case ¹¹ which in-
volved contempt of the House Un-American Activities
Committee. The majority stressed the fact that the trial
judge had permitted the questioning of government em-
ployees with regard to their possible bias because of the
President's loyalty program. However, one conviction for
contempt of that committee was reversed ¹³ cause such
questioning had there not been allowed.

By a 5 to 4 vote the Court held ¹² that criminal con-
tempt could be prosecuted before a judge alone, though
sentence for more than one year had been imposed. The
case arose in connection with two Communists who fled
while out on bail pending their Smith Act conviction
appeal. They were then prosecuted for contempt for
failure to surrender as directed by the Court and were
sentenced to three years. The Court ruled that contempt
trials had traditionally been held without a jury and
that the length of the sentence did not make any
difference.

The Supreme Court, in 1899, invalidated ¹ an act of
Congress providing that in prosecutions for receiving stolen

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