Kastigar v. United States

Kastigar v. United States
Argued January 11, 1972
Decided May 22, 1972
Full case nameCharles Joseph Kastigar and Michael Gorean Stewart v. United States
Citations406 U.S. 441 (more)
92 S. Ct. 1653; 32 L. Ed. 2d 212; 1972 U.S. LEXIS 57
Holding
The government may compel testimony from an unwilling witness who invokes the Fifth Amendment privilege against compulsory self-incrimination by conferring immunity from use of the compelled testimony and evidence derived therefrom in subsequent criminal proceedings.
Court membership
Chief Justice
Warren E. Burger
Associate Justices
William O. Douglas · William J. Brennan Jr.
Potter Stewart · Byron White
Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun
Lewis F. Powell Jr. · William Rehnquist
Case opinions
MajorityPowell, joined by Burger, Stewart, White, Blackmun
DissentDouglas
DissentMarshall
Rehnquist, Brennan took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. V

Kastigar v. United States, 406 U.S. 441 (1972), was a United States Supreme Court decision that ruled on the issue of whether the government's grant of immunity from prosecution can compel a witness to testify over an assertion of the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. In a 5-2 decision (Justices Brennan and Rehnquist took no part in the consideration of the case), the Court held that the government can overcome a claim of Fifth Amendment privilege by granting a witness "use and derivative use" immunity in exchange for his testimony.