Evening star., 1950-06-06
Highest Court 10 Hear
Dorothy Bailey Fight
On Loyalty Firing

Miss Dorothy Bailey's long
fight against the Federal loyalty
program will be settled by the
Supreme Court.
The tribunal announced late
yesterday it would hear argu-
ments, probably next fall. on her
plea that she was illegally ousted
from a Government job and on
her contention that the loyalty
program is invalid.
This case will give the court
its first chance to pass directly
on constitutionality of the pro-
cedure under which Miss Bailey
was dismissed following Loyalty
Board findings that her loyalty
was in doubt.
A major issue she raised in
asking the Supreme Court to re-
view her case was whether
a Government employe can be
legally dismissed because of dis
loyalty accusations based on con-
f1dential information and un-
identified witnesses.
Was S8,O0O-a-Year Employe.
Miss Bailey. former $8,O00-a-
year employe in the United States
Employment Service. was the first
Federal worker to be fired after
exhausting all administrative ap-
peal procedures provided by the
loyalty check system.
She appealed to the Supreme
Court after the United States
Court of Appeals here last march
upheld her dismissal following
Loyalty Review Board hearings.
The appeals court ruled 2 to /
that the Presidents executive
order providing for such dismissal
procedures was constitutional and
in line with the Governments
right to cope with hostile infil-
tration."
The Supreme Court recently ac-
cepted another case involving an
attack on the loyalty program,
particularly the validity of the At
torney Generals list of "subver-
sive" organizations.
Loyalty Program Attacked.
That appeal came from the
Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Com
mittee asking the high court to
declare the loyalty program un-
constitutional and order the COM
mittee's name stricken from the
list. The Court of Appeals held
that the Presidents order, under
which the Attorney General acted
in compiling the lists was not SUBJ
ject to judicial review.
The Bailey case was regarded
as Offering more direct test of
the loyalty program.
Miss Bailey, who lives at 1895
Butterworth place NV, was
suspended from her job in No
vember, 1948. and dismissed the
following February. Her job was
OF the non-security type. In a
series of loyalty board hearings
She was accused of Communist
Party membership. She emphat-
icslly denied those charges and
asked to be confronted with her
accusers. :, The request was re-
jected for security" reasons.
The Court of Appeals decided
that the Presidents order on the
loyalty program and procedures of
the type applied in Miss, Bailey's
case was a constitutional use of
executive authority.
Dissent by Edgerton.
The majority opinion. written
by Judge E. Barrett Prettymaa n :.
held that an employe could ne
discharged after loyalty board
hearings that received confden-
tial information and listened to
undisclosed witnesses.
Judge Henry w. Edgerton con-
tended in dissenting opinion that
the dismissal violated the con-
stitution and the executive order
itself. He declared it abridged
freedom of thought as well as
freedom of speech. It also de-
prived a citizen of the right of
court review of evidence assert
ing so serious a thing as dis
loyalty. he added.
However respectable her anon
ymous accusers may have been,"
he wrote, "if her dismissal is sus-
tanned. the livelihood and reputa-
ton Of any civil servant today and
perhaps of any American tomor-
row are at the mercy not only
OF an innocently mistaken in
formant but also of malicious
or demented one unless his defect
is apparent to the agent who
interviews him."
The appeals court overruled q
part of the Federal Loyalty Re-
view Boards order affecting Miss
Bailey. The board had decreed
that Miss Bailey not only be fired
but also barred for three years
from holding any Federal job.
The appellate court described that
time restriction as punishment, Z"
something that the loyalty pro-