Brent Brewbaker v. United States

Section 1 of the Sherman Act criminalizes “[e]very contract . . . in restraint of trade.” 15 U.S.C. § 1. This prohibition cannot be applied literally because it proscribes all contracts, thus leaving courts to define the offense. Does the criminal provision of Section 1 of the Sherman Act violate Article 1 of, and the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to, the United States Constitution?

Did the court of appeals correctly apply the constitutional harmless-error test when it “presumed” that the jury was not affected by a constitutionally erroneous jury instruction?