Rosenberg v. United States

358 U.S. 904

Opinion

Petition for writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit granted limited to question I presented by the petition for the writ which reads as follows:

Bernard Tompkins for petitioner. Solicitor General Rankin, Assistant Attorney General Anderson, Beatrice Rosenberg and Kirby W. Patterson for the United States.

“I. Is the rule of this Court in Jencks v. United States, 1957, 353 U. S. 657, a rule of mere procedure, or does it involve a defendant’s constitutional rights? May a clear violation of this rule be harmless error ? May the conceded error of a trial court in withholding from defense counsel prior statements of principal Government witnesses be excused because a Circuit Court finds that the defense was not hampered in cross-examination of those witnesses? Is it proper for a Circuit Court to determine what use defense counsel might have made of statements erroneously withheld?”