Evening star., 1940-02-14

IL i i
President to comment on Supreme
Court opinions by directing atten-
ton to the persons who happened
to deliver them, and it is even more
extraordinary that Mr. Roosevelt
feels that the opinion delivered by
Justice Black makes wrong what
the press printed about Mr.. Blacks
membership in the Ku Klux Klan
The facts are that Mr.. Black was
once member and took the oath
of the khan, which, at the time of
his enrolment therein, stood in
opposition to Catholics, Jews and
Negroes. When the question of
appointment of Mr.. Black to the
bench came up, he denied that he
was member, but it appears that
his denial covered only the cir
cumstance that he had withdrawn,
and did not disclose that he had
been a member. This fact was dis
closed and proved only after Mr..
Black had been appointed to the
Supreme Court and taken the oath
as a justice.
There can be no doubt that JUS
tice Black feels he was unjustly
attacked for what ne felt was an
indiscretion of his earlier days, and
that the hullabaloo about his men,
bership in the khan was unfair.
Still, there are few reporters in
the National Capital who will bet
that Senator Black would have been
confirmed as a justice of the Su-
preme Court If all the facts about
his membership In the khan had
been revealed before confirmation
was voted upon In the Senate.
Enthusiasm for Task Seen.
Mr.. Black undoubtedly is still
smarting under the criticism of
what he did when he joined the
khan. Since it is the Chief Justice
who assigns to members of the
Supreme Court the writing of opin-
ions in each case, it was with
apparent eagerness and enthusiasm
that Justice Black availed himself
of the opportunity given him by
Justice Hughes to write the opinion
of the court in the case involving
four Florida colored men.
The day for the opinion announc-
ing happened by coincidence or
otherwise to be the birthday of the
Great Emancipator, and hence was
peculiarly appropriate. Justice Black
did not confine himself to the legal
matters involved, but delivered an
grafton on the subject of civil liber-
ties which resembled more a speech
in the Senate than an opinion from
the Supreme Court. Still, even this
is defensible in view of the personal
feeling that Justice Black doubtless
has that a large number of people
think his one-time membership in
the khan prevents him from being
fair to Negroes or other groups
opposed by the klan.
Main Point Missed.
But the President misses the main
point of the criticism Of Justice
Black, and maybe the justice does,
too. 1t was a widespread belief
that q man who allowed himself to
be allied with intolerance on one
issue was not temperamentally
suited to be on the Supreme Court,
which has to pass upon other ques-
tions Of intolerance removed en-
tirely from racial or religious
bigotry.
Thus, the record against Hugo
Black on the question Of civil liber-
ties still stands marked by an intol-
erance on the subject of the
constitutional right of protection
against search and seizure. AS
chairman of the famous Senate
Lobby Committee, Mr.. Black per-
suaded the Federal Communications
Commission to delve into the files Of
private kilograms Of newspapers in
the Office of the telegraph companies
in Washington. Despite the fact
that the Court of Appeals of the
District of Columbia denounced the
communications commission for
having violated the law with respect
to privacy of messages, no apology
was offered the press by Senator
Black for having defied the courts
and made public the private mes
sages anyway.
The Florida colored men were