* * The
court said, that if Mr. Lincoln wished time to consider what answers he
should make, they would give him time; but they had no doubt he ought to
answer. There was nothing confidential required to be disclosed. If
there had been he was not obliged to answer it; and if he thought that
any thing was communicated to him in confidence he was not bound to
disclose it; * * *" 1 Cr. 137, 143-145 (1803).

[328] The following letter, dated April 30, 1941, from Attorney General
Jackson to Hon. Carl Vinson, Chairman of the House Committee on Naval
Affairs is of interest in this connection: "My Dear Mr. Vinson: I have
your letter of April 23, requesting that your committee be furnished
with all Federal Bureau of Investigation reports since June 1939,
together with all future reports, memoranda, and correspondence of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, or the Department of Justice, in
connection with 'investigations made by the Department of Justice
arising out of strikes, subversive activities in connection with labor
disputes, or labor disturbances of any kind in industrial establishments
which have naval contracts, either as prime contractors or
subcontractors.' Your request to be furnished reports of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation is one of the many made by congressional
committees. I have on my desk at this time two other such requests for
access to Federal Bureau of Investigation files. The number of these
requests would alone make compliance impracticable, particularly where
the requests are of so comprehensive a character as those contained in
your letter. In view of the increasing frequency of these requests, I
desire to restate our policy at some length, together with the reasons
which require it. It is the position of this Department, restated now
with the approval of and at the direction of the President, that all
investigative reports are confidential documents of the executive
department of the Government, to aid in the duty laid upon the President
by the Constitution to 'take care that the laws be faithfully executed,'
and that congressional or public access to them would not be in the
public interest.

"Disclosure of the reports could not do otherwise than seriously
prejudice law enforcement. Counsel for a defendant or prospective
defendant, could have no greater help than to know how much or how
little information the Government has, and what witnesses or sources of
information it can rely upon. This