In re Sawyer

Mr. John T. McTernan, Los Angeles, Cal., for petitioner.

Mr. A. William Barlow, Honolulu, Hawaii, for respondent.

Mr. Justice BRENNAN announced the judgment of the Court, and delivered an opinion, in which The CHIEF JUSTICE, Mr. Justice BLACK, and Mr. Justice DOUGLAS join.

This case is here on writ of certiorari, 358 U.S. 892, 79 S.Ct. 153, 3 L.Ed.2d 119, to review petitioner's suspension from the practice of law for one year, ordered by the Supreme Court of the Territory of Hawaii, 41 Haw. 403, and affirmed on appeal by the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 260 F.2d 189.

Petitioner has been a member of the Territorial Bar in Hawaii since 1941. For many months beginning in late 1952 she participated, in the United States District Court at Honolulu, as one of the defense counsel in the trial of an indictment against a number of defendants for conspiracy under the Smith Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2385, 18 U.S.C.A. § 2385. The trial was before Federal District Judge Jon Wiig and a jury. United States v. Fujimoto, D.C., 107 F.Supp. 865. Both disciplinary charges against petitioner had to do with the Smith Act trial. One charge related to a speech she made about six weeks after the trial began. The speech was made on the Island of Hawaii, at Honokaa, a village some 182 miles from Honolulu, Oahu, on a Sunday morning. The other charge related to interviews she had with one of the jurors after the trial concluded.

The Bar Association of Hawaii preferred the charges which were referred by the Territorial Supreme Court to the Association's Legal Ethics Committee for investigation. The prosecutor who represented the Government at the Smith Act trial conducted the investigation and presented the evidence before the Committee. The Committee submitted the record and is findings to the Territorial Supreme Court. Because the suspension seems to us to depend on it, see 79 S.Ct. 1384, infra, we deal first with the charge relating to the speech. The gist of the Committee's findings was that the petitioner's speech reflected adversely upon Judge Wiig's impartiality and fairness in the conduct of the Smith Act trial and impugned his judicial integrity. The Committee concluded that petitioner 'in imputing to the Judge unfairness in the conduct of the trial, in impugning the integrity of the local Federal courts and in other comments made at Honokaa, was guilty of violation of Canons 1 and 22 of the Canons of Professional Ethics of the American Bar Association and should be disciplined for the same.' The Territorial Supreme Court held that '* * * she engaged and participated in a willful oral attack upon the administration of justice in and by the said United States District Court for the District of Hawaii and by direct statement and implication impugned the integrity of the judge presiding therein * * * and thus tended to also create disrespect for the courts of justice and judicial officers generally * * *. She has thus committed what this court considers gross misconduct.' 41 Haw. at pages 422-423.