Compagna v. Hiatt, 340 U.S. 880 (1950)

The Supreme Court's per curiam of 13 November 1950: "The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided Court. Mr. Justice Clark took no part in the consideration or decision of this case."

Date: 1950-11-13
Kind: court-opinion
Source: CourtListener (Free Law Project), text of the order
Retrieved: 2026-10-12
Docket: No. 5
Rights: An order of the Supreme Court of the United States. Works of the federal judiciary are in the public domain in the United States (17 U.S.C. § 105), and judicial opinions carry no copyright. The text was read on CourtListener.

Supreme Court of the United States, No. 5, argued October 9–10, 1950 and decided November 13, 1950. William Scott Stewart argued for the petitioners, with A. Walton Nall on the brief; Stanley M. Silverberg argued for the respondent warden.

The per curiam reads in full: “The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided Court. Mr. Justice Clark took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.”

The order gives no reasons and does not say why Justice Clark took no part, and this page does not supply one. As Assistant Attorney General, Tom C. Clark’s name appears for the United States on the 1945 order denying certiorari in the criminal case (324 U.S. 867). Under the Fifth Circuit’s mandate the case went back to the Atlanta court, which in 1951 held the revocations void (100 F. Supp. 74).

itemHiatt v. Compagna, 178 F.2d 42 (5th Cir. 1949)The Fifth Circuit reversed the Atlanta court on 10 November 1949 and remanded Campagna and Gioe to the warden's custody. It records that after the 1947 paroles "Unfavorable newspaper publicity followed" and a congressional investigation; Judge Waller dissented.itemCompagna v. Hiatt, 100 F. Supp. 74 (N.D. Ga. 1951)On remand, Judge Underwood held on 18 September 1951 that the revocations of Campagna's and Gioe's paroles were "arbitrary and total nullities" and discharged both "as reinstated parolees." The findings describe the 13 August 1947 release from Leavenworth and the flight from Kansas City to Chicago.itemCompagna v. United States, 324 U.S. 867 (1945): certiorari deniedThe Supreme Court's order of 2 April 1945 denying the petitions for certiorari in the motion-picture extortion case. "Reported below: 146 F. 2d 524."