Gompers v. United States

Petitioner

Samuel Gompers

Respondent

United States

Petitioner's Claim

That the alleged contempt took place more than three years before the proceedings began and therefore beyond the statute of limitations.

Chief Lawyer for Petitioner

Alton B. Parker

Chief Lawyer for Respondent

J. J. Darlington

Justices for the Court

William Rufus Day, Oliver Wendell Holmes (writing for the Court), Charles Evans Hughes, Joseph Rucker Lamar, Horace Harmon Lurton, Joseph McKenna, Edward Douglass White

Justices Dissenting

Mahlon Pitney, Willis Van Devanter

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

11 May 1914

Decision

The Court reversed the decision of the lower court based on the statue of limitations to punish contempt was three years.

Related Cases

• Green v. United States, 356 U.S. 165 (1958).
• United States v. Barnett, 377 U.S. 973 (1964).
• Bloom v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 194 (1968).

Sources

Foner, Eric, and John A. Garaty, eds. The Reader's Companion to American History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991.

Further Readings

• Hall, Kermit L., ed. The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States. New York: Oxford Press, 1992.
• Mandel, Bernard. Samuel Gompers: A Biography. Yellow Springs, OH: The Antioch Press, 1963.