In the 1942 case Pendergast v. United States, Thomas J. Pendergast, a political boss from Kansas City, appealed his conviction for income tax evasion. He argued that he had been denied due process because of prejudicial newspaper publicity and because the trial judge refused to grant him a continuance or change of venue despite this negative attention. The Supreme Court rejected these arguments and upheld his conviction in an unanimous decision. They ruled that pretrial publicity does not necessarily prevent a fair trial unless it creates "a pattern of deep and bitter prejudice" throughout the community which was not proven in this case by Pendergast's defense team.

The dissenting opinion in the case of Pendergast v. United States argued that the majority's decision to uphold Pendergast's conviction was incorrect because it violated his constitutional right to a grand jury indictment. The dissenters believed that the charges against Pendergast were not properly presented to a grand jury, as required by the Fifth Amendment. They contended that an individual cannot be prosecuted for serious crimes unless these charges have been reviewed and approved by this group of citizens first. In their view, allowing prosecutors or courts to alter or add charges after an indictment has been issued undermines this important safeguard against arbitrary prosecution. Therefore, they would have overturned Pendergast's conviction on these grounds.