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330 U.S.

whether the Norris-LaGuardia Act 13 prohibited the granting of the temporary restraining order at the instance of the United States."

After extending the temporary restraining order on November 27, and after full argument on November 27 and November 29, the court, on the latter date, overruled the motion and held that its power to issue the restraining order in this case was not affected by either the NorrisLaGuardia Act or the Clayton Act.15

The defendants thereupon pleaded not guilty and waived an advisory jury. Trial on the contempt charge proceeded. The Government presented eight witnesses, the defendants none. At the conclusion of the trial on

13 47 Stat. 70, 29 U. S. C. § 101.

14 The grounds offered for the motion were:

"1. The Temporary Restraining Order is void in that this case involves and grows out of a labor dispute. Under the provisions of the Norris-LaGuardia Act (47 Stat. 70), and the provisions of Section 20 of the Clayton Act (38 U. S. Stat. C. 323, 730), this Honorable Court is without jurisdiction over the subject-matter of this cause.

"2. Equity acts only where there is no plain, adequate, and complete remedy at law. The allegations of the Petition for the Rule purport to show a violation of the War Labor Disputes Act—a serious offensein which field there is no place for equity intervention.

"3. Observance of all the strict rules of criminal procedure is required to establish criminal contempt. It is apparent that the alleged facts set out in the unverified Petition and in the affidavit of Captain Collisson, filed in support of the Rule, are based wholly upon hearsay, information and belief and are not sufficient to sustain the Rule to Show Cause.

"4. The object of the Petition for the Rule is necessarily punitive and not compensatory. Accordingly, it being for criminal contempt, the Petition should have been presented as an independent proceeding and not as supplemental to the original cause.

"5. The Temporary Restraining Order is beyond the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court and therefore void because it contravenes the First, Fifth, and Thirteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States."

16 38 Stat. 730, 738, § 20, 29 U. S. C. § 52.

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Opinion of the Court.

December 3, the court found that the defendants had permitted the November 15 notice to remain outstanding, had encouraged the miners to interfere by a strike with the operation of the mines and with the performance of governmental functions, and had interfered with the jurisdiction of the court. Both defendants were found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of both criminal and civil contempt dating from November 18. The court entered judgment on December 4, fining the defendant Lewis $10,000, and the defendant union $3,500,000. On the same day a preliminary injunction, effective until a final determination of the case, was issued in terms similar to those of the restraining order.

On December 5 the defendants filed notices of appeal from the judgments of contempt. The judgments were stayed pending the appeals. The United States on December 6 filed a petition for certiorari in both cases. Section 240 (a) of the Judicial Code authorizes a petition for certiorari by any party and the granting of certiorari prior to judgment in the Circuit Court of Appeals. Prompt settlement of this case being in the public interest, we granted certiorari on December 9, and subsequently for similar reasons, granted petitions for certiorari filed. by the defendants, 329 U. S. 708, 709, 710. The cases were consolidated for argument.

I.

Defendants' first and principal contention is that the restraining order and preliminary injunction were issued in violation of the Clayton and Norris-LaGuardia Acts. We have come to a contrary decision.

It is true that Congress decreed in § 20 of the Clayton Act that "no such restraining order or injunction shall prohibit any person or persons . . . from recommending, advising, or persuading others. . ." to strike. But by the

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Act itself this provision was made applicable only to cases "between an employer and employees, or between employers and employees, or between employees, or between persons employed and persons seeking employment . " 16 For reasons which will be explained at greater length in discussing the applicability of the Norris-LaGuardia Act, we cannot construe the general term "employer" to include the United States, where there is no express reference to the United States and no evident affirmative grounds for believing that Congress intended to withhold an otherwise available remedy from the Government as well as from a specified class of private persons.

Moreover, it seems never to have been suggested that the proscription on injunctions found in the Clayton Act is in any respect broader than that in the NorrisLaGuardia Act. Defendants do not suggest in their argument that it is. This Court, on the contrary, has stated that the Norris-LaGuardia Act "still further . . . . . [narrowed] the circumstances under which the federal courts could grant injunctions in labor disputes." 17 Consequently, we would feel justified in this case to consider the application of the Norris-LaGuardia Act alone. If it does not apply, neither does the less comprehensive proscription of the Clayton Act; 18 if it does, defendants' reliance on the Clayton Act is unnecessary.

By the Norris-LaGuardia Act, Congress divested the federal courts of jurisdiction to issue injunctions in a specified class of cases. It would probably be conceded that the characteristics of the present case would be such

16 American Foundries v. Tri-City Council, 257 U. S. 184, 202 (1921); Duplex Printing Press Co. v. Deering, 254 U. S. 443, 470 (1921).

17 United States v. Hutcheson, 312 U. S. 219, 231 (1941).

18 See also Allen Bradley Co. v. Union, 325 U. S. 797, 805 (1945); United States v. Hutcheson, 312 U. S. 219, 235, 236 (1941).

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Opinion of the Court.

as to bring it within that class if the basic dispute had remained one between defendants and a private employer, and the latter had been the plaintiff below. So much seems to be found in the express terms of §§ 4 and 13 of the Act, set out in the margin. The specifications in

19

19 "SEC. 4. No court of the United States shall have jurisdiction to issue any restraining order or temporary or permanent injunction in any case involving or growing out of any labor dispute to prohibit any person or persons participating or interested in such dispute (as these terms are herein defined) from doing, whether singly or in concert, any of the following acts:

"(a) Ceasing or refusing to perform any work or to remain in any relation of employment;

"(b) Becoming or remaining a member of any labor organization or of any employer organization, regardless of any such undertaking or promise as is described in section 3 of this Act;

"(c) Paying or giving to, or withholding from, any person participating or interested in such labor dispute, any strike or unemployment benefits or insurance, or other moneys or things of value;

"(d) By all lawful means aiding any person participating or interested in any labor dispute who is being proceeded against in, or is prosecuting, any action or suit in any court of the United States or of any State;

"(e) Giving publicity to the existence of, or the facts involved in, any labor dispute, whether by advertising, speaking, patrolling, or by any other method not involving fraud or violence;

“(f) Assembling peaceably to act or to organize to act in promotion of their interests in a labor dispute;

"(g) Advising or notifying any person of an intention to do any of the acts heretofore specified;

"(h) Agreeing with other persons to do or not to do any of the acts heretofore specified; and

“(i) Advising, urging, or otherwise causing or inducing without fraud or violence the acts heretofore specified, regardless of any such undertaking or promise as is described in section 3 of this Act."

"SEC. 13. When used in this Act, and for the purposes of this Act"(a) A case shall be held to involve or to grow out of a labor dispute when the case involves persons who are engaged in the same industry, trade, craft, or occupation; or have direct or indirect interests therein; or who are employees of the same employer; or who are members of the same or an affiliated organization of employers or employees;

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330 U.S.

§ 13 are in general terms and make no express exception of the United States. From these premises, defendants argue that the restraining order and injunction were forbidden by the Act and were wrongfully issued.

Even if our examination of the Act stopped here, we could hardly assent to this conclusion. There is an old and well-known rule that statutes which in general terms divest pre-existing rights or privileges will not be applied to the sovereign without express words to that effect.20 It has been stated, in cases in which there were extraneous

whether such dispute is (1) between one or more employers or associations of employers and one or more employees or associations of employees; (2) between one or more employers or associations of employers and one or more employers or associations of employers; or (3) between one or more employees or associations of employees and one or more employees or associations of employees; or when the case involves any conflicting or competing interests in a 'labor dispute' (as hereinafter defined) of 'persons participating or interested' therein (as hereinafter defined).

"(b) A person or association shall be held to be a person participating or interested in a labor dispute if relief is sought against him or it, and if he or it is engaged in the same industry, trade, craft, or occupation in which such dispute occurs, or has a direct or indirect interest therein, or is a member, officer, or agent of any association composed in whole or in part of employers or employees engaged in such industry, trade, craft, or occupation.

"(c) The term 'labor dispute' includes any controversy concerning terms or conditions of employment, or concerning the association or representation of persons in negotiating, fixing, maintaining, changing, or seeking to arrange terms or conditions of employment, regardless of whether or not the disputants stand in the proximate relation of employer and employee.

"(d) The term 'court of the United States' means any court of the United States whose jurisdiction has been or may be conferred or defined or limited by Act of Congress, including the courts of the District of Columbia."

20 Lewis v. United States, 92 U. S. 618, 622 (1875); United States v. Herron, 20 Wall. 251, 263 (1873); see Guarantee Co. v. Title Guaranty Co., 224 U. S. 152, 155 (1912).