The Washington times., 1936-11-09
COURT BLASTS
METHODS OF
'SN00PERS'


pealS today affirmed the action
of the United States District Court
in dismissing the suit of William
Randolph Hearst to enjoin the
Black Senate Lobby Investigating
Committee from making use of the
publishers kilograms, but spared
no words in expressing its disap-
proval of the Black committees
methods.
Justice D. Lawrence Groner
wrote the court opinion which in
dicated that while it considered
the actions of the Federal Com
municationS Commission and Of
the Black committee to be plainly
Illegal, the court has no juriSdic-
ton to interfere.
Since it is fundamental princi-
pal of constitutional law that the
judiciary is powerlesS to interfere
with the legislative branch of the
Government in the exercise Of the
legislative function, the Black
committee could not be enjoined
from making use of the kilograms,
however, illegally they may be OBJ
tanned, the court pointed out. No
action could be taken against the
Federal Communications Commits
sion because the acts complained
of we're already conSummated and
legal questions involved have be-
come moot, the opinion said.
Courts Opinion
Referring to Mr.. HearSt'S suit,
the opinion first quoted Chief JUS
tice Alfred A. Wheat, who, in dis
missing the suit against the COM
mittee, said. in part:
eff the Senate committee has
been proceeding in a way which
some people might regard as un-
lawful, it is better to let them
continue to do it and let that be
corrected in some other way
than it is for me to proceed in a
way that seems to me to be un-
lawful to attempt to correct
what they do that do not agree
with"
Justice Groner went further
than Chief Justice Wheat in ex-
pressing the opinion of the appel
late court. He said:
"AS the allegations of the bill
are not denied, we are obliged to
take them as true. And, in that
view, we are Of the opinion that
the resolution adopted by the
commission, under which its
agents took possession of the
telegraph companies offices and
examined wholesale the thou
sands of private telegraph
m messa geS received and dis
patched therefrOm over a period
Of seven months: for the purpose
of securing for the Senate COM
mittee knowledge of the con-
tents of the messages: was with
out authority Of law and con-
trary to the very terms Of the
act under which the commits
sion was constituted. And, even
without the express prohibition
contained in the act, the dis
closure by the commission of the
contents of private telegraph
messages solely as the bill
charges, for the purpose of
furnishing to the commission in
formation relevant or irrevelant,
which might or might not be
used for legislative purposes,
was unauthorized"
Passing to the question of what
court relief might be afforded to
the publisher, the court points out
that since the courts are without
jurisdiction to interfere with legiS-
lative functions, Mr.. Hearst could
only have appeared before the
committee and, upon being queS-
toned as to matters unrelated to
the legislative business in hand,
would be entitled to refuse to an
Swer, and if an attempt was then
made to imprison him for con-
tempt, he could obtain his release
on a writ of habeaS corpus.
Concluding, Justice Groner
said:
'If it be insisted that this is
the acknowledgment of a power
whose plentitude may become
a cataclysm, the answer is that
Congress is as much the guard
ian of the liberties and welfare
of the people as the courts and,
in this view, the assumption
may properly be INDUCED that,
attention being called to the un-
lawful nature of the search, the
Senate will not use its proceeds
in disregard Of appellants