Evening star., 1948-06-27

unions, unless union officers signed
non- Communist afadavits. The
court did specifically sustain the
laws requirement that unions file
annual reports and financial state
ments to be eligible for NLRB
privileges.
There is more than an even chance
that those constitutional questions
will be before the court at the
coming term.
| Lawyers as well as laymen are
still arguing the pros and cons and
future possibilities of the S-to-1
decision which declared uncopsti-
tutional the released time" pro-
gram of religious instruction con-
Quoted in public schools by the
Champaign, ILL.,, County Board OF
Education.
Reed Dissents
| Justice Blacks three-page ma
jority opinion in this "McCollum
case" held that the arrangement
violated the first and fourth
amendments. Justice Jackson con-
CURED but urged the court to Cir
cumscribe our decision with some
care" lest a flood of related cases
result.
| Justice Reed, dissenting, warned
that devotion to the great prin-
ciple Of religious liberty should not
lead us into a rigid Interpretation
of the constitutional guarantee that
conflicts with accepted habits OF
our people
In fourth major suit that may
bounce back in another form at the
coming term, the court, last January,
unanimously ordered the State OF
Oklahoma to establish equal law
school facilities for Negroes and
whites. This was part of 23-year-
old colored woman's long fight to
enroll in the University of Okla
homa Law School. She and others
now protest that the Negro law
school opened by the State fails to
measure up to those for whites.
Civil rights cases predominated in
public interest and to "A great extent
in the list of major decisions handed
down this year.
Civil Rights Gases
The Patton appeal from Missis-
sippi was one OF several upheld be-
cause Negroes in various States
were sentenced to death after con-
viction by juries from which Ne
groes were excluded. The 22-year-
old murder case of Tony Marino Of
Chicago finally reached the court
and caused the justices to decry the
merry -go-round" of Illinois legal
procedures that seem to plague con-
victed persons who claim depriva-
ton of civil rights
The Oyama case from California
brought a Supreme Court ruling
that the State disseminated uncon-
stitutionally against youth of Jap
anese ancestry by seizing land
which his father, ineligible for citi-
zenship and land ownership, had
purchased years before for the boy
The court outlawed a New York
statute banning sale of publications
devoted principally to stories of
"bloodshed, lust and crime" 1t re-
fused for lack of a Federal question,
to review a New Orleans newspa
pers claim that libel suit against
newspaper should be tried only
at the place of publishing. 1t also
refused to review a case contesting
legality Of Los Angeles ordinance
banning nudist colonies.
AS possible previews of other con-
tempt Of Congress appeals expected
for the next term, the court last
February turned down the petition
of Leon Josephson, an admitted
Communist convicted for refusing
to testify before the House Un-
American Activities Committee. It
likewise rejected the appeal of Ben
jamin F. Fields, self-styled Wash
ington promoter, who went to Jail
for refusing to give information to
House subcommittee investigating
surplus property deals. /
Movie Case Impressive
One of the most impressive cases,
from the standpoint of legal talent,
wealth of the litigants and COM
plexity of the issues, was the appeal
of the big five" motion picture
producing companies from lower
court convictions on charges of
conspiracy in restraint of trade be-
cause of theater holdings and film
distribution methods. The 7-to-1
decision of the Supreme Court, May
3, went against the producers.
The court has not reached the
stage where it can be called nine
old men," although most of the
members do not look as young as
when they were appointed. The
average age is only So. with Justice
Frankfurter the oldest at 66 and
Justice Douglas, youngest at so.
The 5-to-4 margain prevails, with
five still under so.
There was no outward evidence of
the outspoken feud that once
brought Justices Black and Jackson
to the headlines. But, despite a
somewhat greater impression of
harmony under the influence of
Chief Justice Vinson, Justices do
not pull their punches in attacking
rulings of the rest of the court or
the reasoning of some of their COL
leagues.
| Justice Jackson, for instance, de-
scribed a recent 5-to-4 majority
ruling as an "absurdity." On an