Evening star., 1952-12-23
Prosecution boIsfered|
As High Court UphoIds
Maryland Wire-Tap
By Robert K. Walsh

Montgomery County police wire
tapping case has further strength
ened the power Of prosecutors to
use such evidence in State courts.
The tribunal, before recessing
until January S, refused yesterday
to review the gambling conviction
of Mr.. and Mrs. Eddie Bratburd
of Silver Spring. The couple con-
tended their Constitutional rights
were violated when police tapped
"a line outside the Bratburd home
on Piney Branch road in 1851,
obtained a search warrant on the
basis of the intercepted CONVEX
sations and seized gambling
equipment in a raid.
The Supreme Court refusal to
review left standing the sentences
of six months in Jail and fines
|of $500. The convictions were up
held last summer by the Maryland.
Court of Appeals. The State court
ruled that the Federal Communi-
cations Act did not stop Maryland
courts from accepting evidence
obtained by overlapping of an
intrastate telephone talk.
Earlier Ruling for Texas.
The action of the Supreme
Court in the Maryland case had
been forecast because of a deci-
sion week previously in a Texas
case. In that instance, the Su-
preme Court maintained a long
standing position that the Fed
eral Communications Act bans
wiretap evidence in Federal Court.
The high court, however, specif1-
cally said, for the first time, that
such evidence can be admitted in
State courts because Congress did
not intend to prevent its use
there.
The justices ended their bench
sessions for the current calendar
year yesterday with an unusually
large number of written opinions.
Most of the highly complicated
cases involved Government regu-
lations or private business oper-
ations.
The court ruled, 8 to /, that vio-
lations of the minimum wage,
overtime and record-keeping Sec
tions of the Federal wage-hour
law can properly be prosecuted
and punished as course of con-
duct" instead of as numerous in
dividual, repeated violations.
Cuts Fines.
The immediate effect was to fix
fines, totaling 100000. instead of
possible maximum total of $780,
900 for compounded" violations
by the Universal C. I. T. Credit
Corp. of Kansas City. The Gov
ernment had filed at 32-count in
formation, charging numerous
violations of the same sections of
the law and listing them accord
ing to individual employees and
work weeks.
/ A Federal judge in Kansas City
narrowed the issue to three
counts and held that only one
offense could be charged for each
type of violation. His ruling was
substantially sustained yesterday
in the Supreme Court opinion
written by Justice Frankfurter
Justice Douglas dissented, saying
he found nothing in the wage
hour law to justify substitution of
course of conduct" for individual
violations.
In another opinion with posi-
BILE far-reaching effects, the court
held that the Interstate Com
merce Commission could properly
raise railroad freight rates within
a State to offset losses on inter-
state passenger service.
The ICC already had power to
raise intrastate railroad rates to
prevent unjust discrimination
against interstate commerce. The
case decided yesterday originated
in Florida. where the ICC ordered
a railroad freight rate increase tc
correspond with increases it pre-
Iviously ordered for interstate
rates affecting Southern States
in general.
i VinSOn DiSsents.
Justice Burton wrote the opin-
ion, from which Justices Douglas
and Black and Chief Justice Vim
son dissented. The opinion held
that the ICC has authority not
only to increase intrastate freight
rates. but to give weight to deficits
in passenger revenue.
Justice Douglas protested thai
this extension of ICC power was
"a serious invasion of State sover-
eignty."
The court. in a 6-to-2 opinion
written by Justice Clark, with
Justices Reed and Douglas dis
senting. said the Lanham "trade.
mark" law bars an American citi-
zen from misusing a trademark
on products he sells outside of the
UNITED States.
The court announced the ap.
Ipointment of John Raeburn Green
st. Louis attorney, as a special
master to question witnesses ano
study evidence in a dispute be-