Evening star., 1943-02-15

Page Az
BY j. A. FOX.
The Supreme Court today or
dered reargument of case
which is expected to decide
whether the Communist party
advocates the overthrow of this
Government by force and vio-
lence.
The litigation involves the appeal
of William Schneiderman, Russian
born secretary of the Communist
party of California whose citizen
ship was revoked on the ground he
obtained it by concealing his men,
bership in the Communist party.
Particular Importance is attached
to the case because of its bearing
on the deportation proceedings
against Harry r. Bridges, West
Coast CIO leader who has been
ordered back to his native Australia
by the Justice Department, which
alleges that Bridges has had Com
munist affiliations in this country
Under new law, past membership
in any subversive organization war
rants deportation, but Congress did
not specify what organizations are
considered subversive, and that in
depreciation has been left up to the
Supreme Court.
Case Argued In Fall.
The Schneiderman case was ar
gued in the fall with Wendell l..
Willkie representing the Communist
official and the length of time that
the court had held the case led
observers to believe that the tribu-
nal was deadlocked and that the
litigation would be reargued when
the court was brought up to full
strength-a condition that now pre-
walls following the swearing in today
OF Justice Rutledge as the ninth
member.
The court today also dealt an
other blow to the efforts of the
Justice Department to prosecute
labor restraints under the Sherman
Antitrust Act by affirming a. lower
court ruling denying an injunction
to the Government to restrain James
c. Petrillo, head of the American
Federation of Musicians, from en-
forcing his ban on the making of
phonograph records by members of
the musicians union. The action of
the court was announced in a brief
order.
The court also announced that
re-argument had been granted in
three earlier decisions in which
municipal licensing ordinances were
held not to infringe on the rights
of Jehovah's Witnesses to sell re-
llgious literature on the streets.
Here, too, it has been indicated that
the court stood four to four on this
issue which has a local bearing be-
cause two members of the sect have
appealed from Police Court convic-
tlons for selling literature in viola
ton of the District Licensing Law.
Justice Rutledge dissented from
the majority opinion when the
Court of Appeals upheld these con-
vtctions and while it is assumed he
would be disqualified from sitting
in the local case on the Supreme
Court he is eligible to participate in
the others in which rehearing has
been granted.
The Schneiderman case has been
hanging fire for more than four
years since the immigration and
Naturalization Service filed charges
calling for cancellation of Schnei-
derman's citizenship which was
granted in 1927. Schneiderman
came to this country at the age of 3
in 1908.
In appealing from the citizenship
cancellation which was upheld by
the lower courts, Schneiderman dis
claimed any leaning to subversive
principles and said that citizenship
could be Cancelled only for fraud or
illegality and neither fraud nor il
legality could be predicated upon
the imputation of political views to
an individual.