Johnson v. United States, 318 U.S. 189 (1943)

Supreme Court of the United States, No. 273, argued January 15, 1943 and decided February 15, 1943 (the date at the top of the CourtListener page, March 15, 1943, does not match the opinion header). Justice Douglas wrote for the Court; Justice Frankfurter wrote a concurrence; Justices Murphy and Jackson did not take part.

“Petitioner was convicted of wilfully attempting to defeat and evade his federal income taxes for the years 1936 and 1937. He was acquitted for 1935. Petitioner was a political leader in Atlantic City and Atlantic County, New Jersey. The prosecution’s theory was that he had received large sums of money from those conducting the numbers game for protection against police interference and had not reported those sums in his income tax returns.” The defense was that he believed he had to report only the balance left after political expenditures.

The Court discussed the trial judge’s allowance of comment on the petitioner’s claim of privilege when he was asked about 1938 income, and held that “petitioner expressly waived any objection to the prosecutor’s comment by withdrawing his exception to it and by acquiescing in the treatment of the matter by the court.” The judgment was affirmed. The lower opinion is 129 F.2d 954.

Like the Third Circuit opinion, this one names the petitioner only as Johnson. The identification with Enoch L. “Nucky” Johnson rests on the Kefauver testimony and the 1941 Treasury transcripts filed on this site, which the person page cites.