Evening star., 1937-09-27
BLACK TO REPLACE
KLAN ASSA|[ANT
Van Devanter Denounced
Body in 0pinion-Cardozo
Concurred in Ruling.
BY JOHN H. CLINE.


When Justice Hugo L. Black ascends
the bench Of the Supreme Court next
Monday to succeed Justice Willis Van
Devanter, he will take the seat Of
man who, nearly nine years ago de-
livered an opinion denouncing the
Ku Klux Klan and upholding State
law requiring its members to divest
themselves of their traditional secrecy.
Black, according to charges he has
not yet denied. was member Of the
Klan at about the time the case
arose and may still belong to the
hooded organization.
Van Devanter's opinion was deliv-
cred in the case Of George Bryant,
who had been arrested in Buffalo,
N. Y, for remaining in the Klan
after the organization had failed to
comply with a State law requiring
that its constitution, its oath and 4
list OF its members be fled with q
State official.
Aims Of Khan Hit.
Bryant contended the law violated
the equal protection clause Of the
fourteenth amendment by dscrim-
mating against the Klan in that
other organizations such as the Ma
sons. Odd Fellows and knights Of Co.
.lumbus, having already been required
to register, were exempted from its
provisions.
UNFOLDING the law. Justice Van De-
vanter quoted with approval from
the lower courts as follows:
1T is a matter Of common knowl-
edge that the association or organ
tzation of which the relator is a
member exercises activities tending
to the prejudice and intimidation Of
sundry classes OF our citizens" On
his own initiative, he added:
We assume that the Legislature
(of New York; had before it such
information as was readily available,
including the published report OF a
hearing before a committee Of the
House OF Representatives relating to
the formation, activities and purposes
Of the Ku Klux Klan.
Cardozo Concurred.
IF SO. it was advised-putting aside
controverted evidence-that the or
der was revival of the Ku Klux Klan
OF an earlier time, with additional
featured borrowed from the Know
Nothing and the A. P. A. (American
Protective Association) orders Of
other periods. that its membership
was limited to native born, gentle
Protestant whites; that in part OF its
constitution and printed creed it pro-
claimed the widest freedom for all
and full adherence to the Constitu-
tion Of the United States, in another
exacted OF its members an oath to
shield and preserve white supremacy,
and in still another declared any
person actively opposing its principles
to be "a dangerous ingredient in the
body polite Of our country aid an
enemy to the veal Of our national
Commonwealth; that it was con-
Quoting a crusade against Catholics,
Jews and Negroes and stimulating
hurtful religious and race prejudices;
that 1t was striving for political power
and assuming a sort Of guardianship
over the administration Of local, State
and national affairs, and that al
times 1t was taking into its own
hands the punishment of what some
OF its members conceived to be
crimes"
1t has also been pointed out that
Justice Cardozo, who will sit on the
Supreme Court with Black. was 4
member Of the New York Court of
Appeals and concurred in the opinion
when that tribunal upheld the law
prior to its reaching the Supreme
Court.