Velma P. Cooper v. United States

Background

Two defendants, Velma Cooper and Oscar Wesley, were charged with trying to influence a witness to testify falsely. They were prosecuted under two federal laws: the older obstruction statute (section 1503) and a newer witness-protection law (section 1512) enacted in 1982 after Congress removed explicit references to witnesses from section 1503.

Reasoning

The central question was whether the revised obstruction law still covers some kinds of witness tampering, or whether Congress intended the new section 1512 to be the sole law for witness-related offenses. The Fifth Circuit upheld the convictions under section 1503, reasoning that its broad “obstruction of justice” clause still reaches conduct like urging a witness to lie, and that section 1512 did not clearly prohibit that exact conduct. The Second Circuit reached the opposite conclusion in a different case, finding that Congress intended to remove witnesses from section 1503’s scope. The Supreme Court chose not to take these petitions and did not resolve that disagreement.

Real world impact

By denying review, the Court left the Fifth Circuit’s decision in place and allowed those convictions to stand. The denial keeps a conflict among appeals courts alive and leaves uncertainty about which statute prosecutors should use when charging witness tampering. This was not a final ruling on the constitutional or statutory issues, and the question could return to the Court later for a definitive answer.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice White, joined by Justices Brennan and Marshall, dissented from the denial and said the Court should have agreed to hear the cases to resolve the conflict between the circuits.