In Re Grand Jury Appearance of Alvin S. Michaelson, Esquire

I. Prior Proceedings

This is an appeal from an order of the district court dated December 5, 1974, adjudging appellant, an attorney, in civil contempt and ordering him confined due to his refusal to answer questions before a grand jury after immunity had been granted to him and to his client under § 201(a) of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, 18 U.S.C. § 6002 et seq. Appellant is presently at liberty on bail.

The contempt order was entered pursuant to § 301(a) of the aforementioned Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1826 .

In that 28 U.S.C. § 1826 requires that an appeal taken from such a contempt order be disposed of by this Court not later than 30 days from its filing (in the instant case, by Monday, January 6th, 1975 (January 4th being a Saturday), see Rule 6(a) Federal Rules of Civil Procedure), this panel on January 6th, 1975 filed an unpublished per curiam memorandum affirming the order of the district court. Judges Barnes and Duniway joined in that memorandum and Judge Merrill reserved the right to file a dissent when the full opinion is published.

In addition to our affirmance of the district court’s order, our memorandum of January 6th held:

Our memorandum also bore a…