Evening star., 1950-01-08
.D.C.Wi|| Defend
Honne|nspection
In High Court
Tribunal to Resume
Sessions Tomorrow;
Many Decisions Due
By Robert K. Welsh


The District will defend its
health inspection system in argu-
ments before the Supreme Court
this week.
The question is whether
health official must have
warrant to inspect private home.
1t not only touches on constitu-
tionality of the District law, but
also concerns municipal inspec-
tion statutes Of many kinds
throughout the country.
When the court meets tomorrow
after a bench recess since Decena-
ber 10, it may hand down decis;Sas
on several of the Al cases siSeady
argued at the current tenn.
Among these are the i947 Dis
trict Court conviction of Eugene
Dennis. Communist Party secre-
tary on contempt of Congress
charges. and a United States
Court of Appeals finding that Miss
Helen r.. Bryan and Mrs. Ernes-
tina G. Fleischman of the Joint
Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee
were improperly convicted in Dis
Itrict- Court on contempt of Con-
gress charges.
House Committee Involved.
The House Committee on Un-
American Activities is involved In
those cases. Dennis was found
guilty of having refused to appear
in response to a committee SUBJ
poena. Miss Bryan and Mrs.
tFleischman were convicted of
having failed to produce records
.fsubpoenaed by the committee.
The appellate court. declared in
the Bryan-Fleischman cases that
the District Court jury should
have been allowed to pass on the
alleged absence of a committee
|quorum.
The congressional committee
quorum issue came to a head last
June. The first case was that Of
Harold r. Christoffel, former Mil
waukee labor leader, convicted in
district Court here of having lied
at a House Labor Committee hear
ing. The Supreme Court reversed
the conviction. It held that testi-
mony' before a committee cannot
serve as the basis for perjury
lcharges if the committee lacked
quorum at the time of the al
legged untruthful statements
The court may decide tomorrow
on constitutionality of the anti
Communist affidavit provision in
the Taft Hartley Act, and whether
1.-THE Fair Labor Standards Act ap-
1plies to employees Of q contractor
fwho manufactured war munitions
t for the Government on a cost
u plus fxed-fee arrangement.
81 Another case awaiting decision
tests the right to picket q food
] store IN an effort to induce the
I proprietor to hire Negro employees
In proportion to the number of
Negro customers,
Coplon Appeal Pending.
4 The tribunal also has been petit
toned to set aside the District
Court conviction of Judith Coplon
, last June on charges of having
. turned over secret Government
, documents to Russian.
}, An appeal already is pending in
the Court oi Appeals here. The
I attorney for the former .Justice
Department employe, however,
wants the Supreme Court to order
another trial. largly on a claim
that Government prosecutors used
information obtained by tapping
her telephone and intercepting
: her mail.
The District health inspection
case is expected to be argued
Wednesday. In this instance the
District has appealed from a
! Court OF Appeals ruling in favor
OF Mrs. Geraldine Little of the
1900 block of Tenth street NV.
The Institute of Municipal Law.
an organization of city legal off,
cials throughout the country, has
filed a brief in support of the
Districts argument. ....-.
Mrs. Little was found guilty in
Municipal Court in 1947 on
charges of refusing to admit a
health inspector to her house.
The United States Court of Ap-
: peals reversed the conviction and
held that under the search and
seizure provisions of the Fourth
Amendment the owner or occu-
. pant OF home could keep out
} an inspector who had no warrant,
The District government, in
its appeal to the Supreme Court.
contended that such inspections
, are reasonable exercise of police
, power. Noting that more than
$4,000 health inspections are made
: here annually, and many thou
sands more by fire, building.
plumbing and other inspectors, the
District declared it would be i'm
| practical If not impossible to get
warrants in all specific instances.
The Corporation Counsels of
fee told the court that few if any
!, municipal laws in the United
4 States require warrants for rou-
time health inspections.