Vincente Garcia Rule v. United States

COLEMAN, Circuit Judge;

Section 176a of Title 21 U.S.C. makes it a criminal offense to smuggle or clandestinely introduce marihuana into the United States without invoicing or declaring it at the border. 1 Concealing and transporting marihuana in the United States without having paid the transfer tax- imposed by the Internal Revenue Code is likewise a crime, 26 U.S.C. § 4744(a) (2). 2

The narrow, but important, question presented in this appeal is whether the declaration or invoicing requirements of § 176a violate the Fifth Amendment privilege that one shall not be compelled to incriminate…