Evening star., 1947-03-07
The Lewis Decision

outside the limits of the. restraints
imposed by the puplic interest. 1t
would be a mistake, however, to sup
pose that yesterdays decision by the
Supreme Court supplies the Govern
ment with a permanent and effective
instrument to deal with strikes
which threaten the national welfare.
Five Of the justices agreed that, in
the light of the circumstances Of this
case, the Norris-La Guardia Act did
not serve to prevent the Govern
ment from securing an injunction
commanding Mr.. Lewis to call of
last years coal strike. Having agreed
on that point, the majority of the
court then although
there was split among them on this
to uphold the contempt convic-
tions against Mr.. Lewis and his
union. The $500 oc0 criminal fine
against the union was reduced to
$700, ,000-the balance remaining as
a penalty only if the union continues
in disobedience of the order of the
court.
That, of course, is an important
victory for the Government. But it
Is at best q narrow and precarious
victory.
In the first place, the majority
decision was based squarely on the
proposition that the Government
having taken possession of the
mines under authority of the Smith
Connally Act, the miners thereupon
became employees of the Govern
ment. In other words, if this en-
ployer- employe relationship had not
been found to exist, the courts
would have been closed even to the
Government by the stringent pro-
visions of the Norris-La Guardia Act.
The fact Is, however, that the Smith
Connally Act, out OF which grew the
legal basis for the Governments
victory, will expire on June 80.
After that time, unless there is new
legislation, the Government will be
without power to deal with another
coal strike or any other strike in
private industry. -,-
A second important point has to
do with the narrowness of the
ground on which Justices Black and
Douglas stood with the justices con-
stituting the majority. They stated
the belief that the Norris-La Guardia
Act would prohibit the Government
from seeking an injunction for the
benefit Of private employers. But"
they added, "as we read the War
Labor Disputes (smith- -Connally)
Act and the Presidents order taking
over the mines against the back
ground OF circumstances tDhtch
prompted both, we think that
the Government operates these
mines for its own account as
matter of law; and those who work
in them, during the period of COM
plete Government control, are en-
ployes of the Government"
The italics have been supplied for
purposes of emphasis because, the
italicized words seem to be an i'm
portant qualification by the two
Justices. They might we'll mean that
against a background Of different
circumstances, even though the Gov
ernment were lawfully in possession
of an industry, Justices Black and
Douglas would not be willing to
agree that the workers were in fact
employees of the Government.
Still third point has to do with
the power and persuasiveness of the
dissenting opinions, particularly
those of Justices Frankfurter and
Murphy.
These members of the court, along
with Justice Rutledge and probably
Justice Jackson, who dissented on
the Norris-La Guardia Act issue
without writing an opinion, con-
tended that even if the miners could
be held to be employees of the Gov
ernment-a point which they did
not concede-the Norris-La Guardia
Act would still operate to prevent
the Government from securing an
Injunction against the workers. And
this view was SO cogently argued
that one can readily believe that
the court, in the absence of new
legislation, may swing around in
time to this minority viewpoint.
From all of the foregoing, two
conclusions can be drawn. If in the
future the Government expects to
use the injunctive weapon against
strikes which threaten the welfare
Of the Nation, and if this is to be
predicated upon an employer
employe relationship, then Congress
must enact some legislation to re-
place the expiring Smith Connally
Act in this respect. Secondly, even
If this is done, the Norris-La Guardia
Act should be amended to make it
unmistakably clear that, in such a
situation, Congress does not intend
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