Lumbard Attacks Use Of Fifth Amendment Before Grand Juries

J. Edward Lumbard, Jr. '22, a prominent U.S. attorney, said yesterday that no grand jury witness should be allowed to decline to answer a question on the grounds of the Fifth Amendment.

"We have been fighting a modern war with medieval weapons," Lumbard, a Law School graduate, told a Langdell Hall audience of about 100.

Of importance equal to the recently passed wire-tap law in bringing our crime fighting up to date, Lumbard said, is a statute allowing grand juries to compel witnesses to divulge all information that is asked for. He explained that while such a law would mean witnesses could no longer decline to answer on the grounds of the Fifth Amendment, a witness would be granted immunity on any answer that might incriminate him.

He explained that the freedoms lost because of such a law are the price that must be paid for the proper enforcement of the law.