Wilkinson v. United States

The petitioner was convicted for having unlawfully refused to answer a question pertinent to a matter under inquiry before a subcommittee of the House Committee on Un-American Activities at a hearing in Atlanta, *401Georgia, on July 30, 1958.1 His conviction was affirmed by the Court of Appeals, which held that our decision in Barenblatt v. United States, 360 U. S. 109, was “controlling.” 272 F. 2d 783. We granted certiorari, 362 U. S. 926, to consider the petitioner’s claim that the Court of Appeals had misconceived the meaning of the Baren-blatt decision. For the reasons that follow, we are of…