Evening star., 1950-06-06
Supreme Court Begins Recess
After Giving Score of Opinions

ore OF OplnlOnS
a quorum was not present at the
time of the allegedly suborned
testimony.
/ The Madsen appeal came to the
Supreme Court on a claim that
her murder trial as a civilian by
a United States Court for the Al
lied High Commission in Ger
many was unconstitutional. Dis
trict Court here refused her plea
because an appeal in her case is
pending in the commisSion's courts
in Germany.
She carried her case to the
United States Court Of. Appeals
here but, meanwhile. asked the
Supreme Court to consider the
case Immediately. The courts
refusal yesterday was interpreted
as meaning it would not accept the
case, at least until the Court of
Appeals here has ruled. She is
| AA4AC1 q xO-SCdI CC1lGC1lCC.
/ Ruling in Virginia Case.
In a 5-4 decision, the court up
held validity of a Virginia ban
on mail solicitation of new buSi-
ness by the Travellers Health AS
Sociation Of Omaha, Neb., which
has no Office or agent in the State.
The majority opinion stated the
Virginia securities law validly re-
quires such out-of- State corpora
tions to comply with licensing re-
quirements before being allowed to
sell securities by mail.
In other final-day actions the
court:
l. Refused to review the convic-
tions Of seven Virginia Negroes
condemned to death for raping a
white woman. The men were
found guilty at Martinsville, Va.
2. Refused to review a New York
State court decision that Negroes
may be excluded from New York
City'S Stuyvesant Town housing
development that has 8,7O0 apart
mentS for $4,000 people and was
financed by the Metropolitan Life
Insurance Co. Justices Black and
Douglas favored a review.
3. Upheld an antitrust order
issued by Federal District Court
in New York, directing Loew's,
Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc,
and Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Corp. to submit a plan within sc
days for separating their produc-
ton and distribution business
from their business of exhibiting
films.
SuStainS Judge Tamm.
a. Ruled 6-3 that aliens i'm
prisoned abroad by United States
authorities do not have the right
to apply for court hearings in this
country. The decision reversed a
ruling by the Circuit Court of Ap-
peals here, which, in turn, had
reversed an opinion by District
Court Judge Tamm. The Su-
preme Court thus sustained Judge
Tamm's stand that the District
Court lacked Jurisdiction in the
matter.
The appeal involved 81 Germans
sentenced to terms ranging from
two years to life, after being con-
victed as war criminals at trials
before a United States military
commission.
The longest opinions yesterday
dealt with the tidelands question.
Justice Douglas wrote the ma
jority views in both cases. JUS
tices Jackson and Clark did not
participate in either. Justices
Reed and Frankfurter wrote dis
sents. Justice Minton joined In
Justice Reeds dissent.
The opinions rejected LouiSi-
ana's request for a jury trial that
would have been unprecedented in
Supreme Court history. They also
rejected a Texas request for ap-
pointment of a special master to
take testimony.
Special Treatment Denied.
The court turned down the
claim that Texas was entitled to
special treatment because the
State had been an independent
republic before being admitted to
the Union. While not ruling di-
rectly on whether Texas owned
her marginal seas before entering
the Union, the court declared
Texas lost any such prior right
when admitted on an equal foot
ing with all other States.
Taking notice of claims by
Texas and Louisiana to submerged
areas beyond the three mile limit,
Justice Douglas wrote:
IF, as we held in the California
case. the three-mile belt is in the
domain of the Nation rather than
that of the separate States, 1t
follows that the ocean beyond
that limit also is. The ocean
Seaward of the marginal belt is
perhaps even more directly re-
lated to the national defense, the
conduct of foreign affairs and
world commerce than is the mar
ginal sea. Certainly it is not less
So"
Justice Reed. however. con-
tended: THE needs of defense
and foreign affairs alone cannot
transfer ownership of an ocean
bed from a State to the Federal
Government any more than they
could transfer iron ore under up
lands from State to Federal own
ership In my view. Texas
owned the marginal area by virtue
of its original proprietorship."
Police Convinced Bears