Evening star., 1949-09-11

, junction proceedings in a general
! coal strike. After reading the
dissent in open court, he ex-
claimed: Il want no part of this
decision.
One Decision Lacking.
But death overlook Justice Rut-
ledge before he could cast his
vote in one of the Supreme
Courts most important postwar
cases.
Top japanese war lords who
were sentenced to death or i'm
prisonment from the international
military tribunal in Tokyo asked
the Supreme Court to help them.
Five days before last Christmas
the Supreme Court decided by a
6-to-1 vote that it had no author
ity over the military tribunal.
The late Justice Murphy dissent
ed. Justice Douglas went along
with the majority, but took six
months to prepare an opinion ex-
planning his position. Justice
Jackson took no part.
Justice Rutledge announced
that he had not decided his stand
in the case. The announcement
said, "Mr. Justice Rutledge re-
serves decision and the announce
ment of his vote until a later
time"
That announcement never
came.
Decisions Are Secret.
Whether Justice Rutledge had
reached his decision and intend
ed preparing an opinion to be re-
leased when the court meets next
month may never be known. A
Supreme Court justice keeps his
decisions tight secrets until he an
nounces them from the bench.
Two days after the Supreme
Court refused to act in the Japa-
nese cases. japanese Premier
Hideki TOTO and six other war
lords were executed.
Earlier, Justice Rutledge had
protested convictions of Japanese
Generals Tomoyuki Yamashita
and Masaharu Homma by military
courts at Manila. Both generals
were executed.
Because of that protest, Gen.
Douglas Macarthur said that JUS
tices Rutledge and Murphy (who
agreed with him) either advo-
cate arbitrariness of process above
| factual realism, or inherently
shrink from the stern rigidity Of
capital punishment
While usually sympathetic with
views of labor, he sometimes wrote
opinions that antagonized labor
organizations. He sided with an
employer who was cited by the
National Labor Relations Board
for by-passing a union committee
to deal directly with his employees.
He also wrote the 5-to-4 majority
opinion that an individual en-
ploye could have judicial review
of an award by the Railroad Ad-
justment Board. Some labor
leaders described that decision as
a blow to collective bargaining
agreements.
Dissent in School Bus Case.
In his first opinion on the high
court, Justice Rutledge held that
a shipowner was liable for the
safety and welfare of ship crew
members going between the ship
and the nearest public thorough
fare.
One of his most notable dis
sents was in the so-called New
Jersey school bus case of 1947. A
majority of five upheld a State
statute allowing a township Board
of Education to reimburse parents
for money they spent for bus
transportation to parochial as
well as public schools.
The realm of religious training
and belief" Justice Rutledge
wrote in his dissent, remains, as
the First Amendment made it, the
kingdom of the individual man
and his God. It should be kept
inviolately private. not entangled
in precedents or confounded with
what legislatures may take over
into the public domain"
| During the war, Justice Rutledge
emerged as perhaps the most me-
ticulous Of the judges in cases
bearing on the rights of indi-
vidual citizens.
He delivered a concurring opin-
ion in the Schneiderman case in
1943 in which the late Wendell
Willkie appeared as counsel for
an avowed Communis. The issue
was whether the Government
could nullify citizens naturali-
zation papers on the ground that
they had been obtained unlaw-
fully years before. He held that
such notification authority would
be a constant threat to millions
Of people.
He spoke for the court in 1945
in a decision invalidating a Texas
law requiring registration of union
organizers. He described the law
as violating the free speech guar
antee of the Constitution.
A friendly man who blended
devotion to the law and a liking
for people and books, Justice Rut-