Evening star., 1948-02-18
Supreme Court Ruling
On War Powers Seen
Threat 10 Liberties
Leaves Congress Free
To Impose Any Curbs 1t
Wishes, Observer Says
Bv David Laurence

The Supreme Court on Monday
handed down a decision which will
plague the American people for
many years to come, chiseling away
their peacetime liberties and placing
them in the clutches of tyrannical
majorities of the future in the leg
islative branch of the Government.
The Supreme Court said, in effect,
that as long as the consequences OF
war are felt, Congress can use war
powers.
This means that rationing can
come back overnight along with
wage freezing and price fixing and
that the peacetime liberties of the
citizen hitherto protected by the
Constitution have been confiscated
by judicial Interpretation.
1t is true that Justice Douglas,
who wrote the opinion for the
court, and Justice Jackson, who
wrote a separate opinion concurring,
did mention the dangers that lie in
possible implications of the decision,
but they did nothing to quiet the
fears of the citizenry as to what
limits can be placed on the power
of a legislative majority when it
seeks to rob the minority of their
constitutional rights by reviving
war powers when there is no dec
laration of a state of war.
Justice jackson did put his finger
on the danger when he said:
"I cannot accept the argument
that war powers last as long as the
effects and consequences of war, for,
if so, they are permanent-as per-
manent as war debts"
No War Declared.
II the Justice had stopped there,
his reasoning would have been un-
impeachable. But he added:
"But I find no reason to conclude
that we could find fairly that the
present state of war is merely tech
nical. We have armies abroad ex-
ercising our war power and have
made no peace terms with our
allies, not to mention our enemies" :"
But when was there war de-
clared as between allies? And II
there is a state of war today be-
tween the United States and Russia,
Congress has not so declared.
AS for Germany, can any one
argue that the United States is at
war with Germany when the gov
ernment and armies of that coGn-
try no longer exist? Are the pres
ent armies of the United States in
Europe there to fight against the
German government? Are they not
there to do police dutj i'll the same
sense that American tr',ops have
frequently been landed, occupying
foreign territory to protect Ameri-'
can interests? President Truman
on December 81, 1916, actually pro-
claimed formally the ending Of hos
tilities with Germany.
Congress Declared Peace.
After World War I, the army of
occupation remained in Europe
under the terms of an armistice and
subsequently a resolution was
adopted by Congress which declared
a state of peace with Germany even
before there was treaty. When it
is suggested that there must be
peace treaty between allies and be-
tween enemies before there is a
state of peace, it is equivalent to
saying that war power can be used
by Congress for quarter of CEN
tury or more and the Supreme
Court decision of this week can be
employed as sustaining precedent.
The truth is America is engaged
in "cold war" or a potential war
period" or an "undeclared war; with
Russia, and the armies and navies
and air forces of the former allied
countries are deployed to prevent
attack on one another. But Con-
gress can meet such situation by
declaring a national emergency and
giving the President specific powers.
The whole question of whether
there should or should not be a
continuation of rent control can be
handled under the commerce clause
of the Constitution just as labor
regulation is today. But for the
Supreme Court to uphold the exer-
else of the war power as means
Of controlling rents is to give the
radicals or fascists or state social
lists of the future the best weapon
they ever had to regiment economic
life under constitutional guise.
Reproduction rights reserved)