In the United States v. Kordel et al., 1969, the Supreme Court ruled that a civil proceeding could be used to gather evidence for a criminal prosecution without violating the Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination. The case involved two companies and their executives who were first subjected to an FDA civil injunction suit regarding misbranded drugs, during which they provided information about their operations. Later, this information was used in a criminal prosecution against them for violations of federal food and drug laws. They argued that using evidence from the civil case in subsequent criminal proceedings violated their rights under the Fifth Amendment not to incriminate themselves. However, the Supreme Court disagreed stating there was no violation as long as defendants were not compelled to give testimony incriminating themselves.

In the dissenting opinion for United States v. Kordel et al., Justice Black argued that the government's use of civil discovery procedures to gather evidence for a criminal prosecution violated due process rights. He contended that it was unfair and deceptive for federal officials to conduct an investigation under the guise of a civil proceeding without informing defendants about potential criminal charges. This, he believed, denied them their constitutional right against self-incrimination and deprived them of fair warning as required by law. Furthermore, he criticized the majority's decision because it allowed prosecutors to circumvent procedural safeguards in place in criminal cases by using less restrictive civil discovery rules instead.