Biography
Anthony Russo was a former RAND Corporation analyst who helped Daniel Ellsberg photocopy the Pentagon Papers, the secret government history of U.S. decision-making in the Vietnam War. In 1971, after the papers were published, Russo was subpoenaed before a federal grand jury in Los Angeles investigating the leak. Granted immunity and ordered to testify against Ellsberg, he refused, and was jailed for 47 days for civil contempt. He was then indicted alongside Ellsberg in December 1971 on charges including espionage and conspiracy, facing decades in prison; the case was dismissed in 1973 after the court found gross government misconduct, including illegal wiretapping and a break-in by White House operatives targeting Ellsberg. Russo remained an antiwar and civil-liberties activist for the rest of his life.
RAND Corporation analyst who helped Daniel Ellsberg photocopy the Pentagon Papers in October 1969. Earlier authored RAND studies documenting systematic torture of Viet Cong prisoners by South Vietnamese and U.S. forces. Indicted with Ellsberg Dec 30, 1971 under the Espionage Act; refused immunity and spent 47 days in jail for contempt before trial. Case dismissed May 11, 1973 by Judge William Matthew Byrne Jr. after revelations of the Nixon Plumbers' break-in at Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office.
Civil contempt for declining immunized grand-jury testimony in the Pentagon Papers investigation. A memorandum opinion dated November 17, 1971, signed by Judge Warren J. Ferguson, finds that Russo purged the contempt after promising to testify if supplied a transcript within thirty-six hours. The order recounts his October 18 appearance ready to answer and the government’s refusal to provide the transcript. This court ruling is not used as the physical jail-release date; the separately documented 47-day stay remains unchanged.
On November 13, 1972, the Supreme Court denied review in Russo et al. v. Byrne, No. 72-307, arising from the Pentagon Papers prosecution. Justice Brennan would have granted review. In dissent, Justice William O. Douglas argued for an adversarial hearing on electronic surveillance involving a defense lawyer and for protection of lawyer-client confidences under the Sixth Amendment. Douglas questioned the government's foreign-surveillance justification after examining the intercepted conversation. These were the dissent's criticisms, not a majority ruling that resolved the surveillance issue.
