Evening star., 1953-06-17
Douglas Decision Gives
Rosenbergs Indefinite Stay
Continued From First Page

Continued From First Page0
ably first in the lower Federal
courts in New York and eventu-
ally in the Supreme Court, of the
applicability of the Atomic En-
ergy Act to the circumstances of
the Rosenberg conviction and
sentencing.
The Supreme Court adjourned
last Monday and it's next regular
term begins october S. Chief
Justice Vinson, however. could
call his colleagues in a special
term at any time to consider the
question on which Justice Dou-
las based the stay Of execution.
Special Term Unlikely.
Court officials believed today
that this course was unlikely, if
only because many of the justices
have left Washington.
Justice Douglas did not COM
Inent on, much less rule on, the
guilt or innocence of the couple
convicted in 1851 on charges of
espionage conspiracy to send
atomic secrets to Russia. In
fact, he refused to grant a stay
Of execution or writ of habeaS
coSpus on any ground that the
Rosenberg trial was unfair or
otherwise illegal. He said sim
ply that the question concerning
the Atomic Energy Act was a
substantial one which should be
decided after full argument and
deliberation."
1T is important" he wrote,
that the country be protected
against the nefariouS plans of
spies who would destroy us. It
is also important that before we
allow human lives to be Snuffed
out we be Sure-emphatically
Sure-that we act within the law.
If we are not sure, there will be
lingering doubts to plague the
conscience after the event. I
have serious doubts whether
this death sentence may be i'm
posed for this offenSe except and
unless a. jury recommends it.
The RoSenbergs should have an
opportunity to litigate that is
sue"
Climax to Petitions.
The handing down of the
eight-page memorandum opin-
ion today climaxed an almost un-
precedented series of last-min-
ute petitions and hearings in the
Supreme Court. Justice Douglas
heard attorneys for an hour late
Monday, deliberated for almost
13 hours yesterday and gave out
the decision shortly after II
o'clock this morning.
One of the most unusual fea-
lures was that the decision was
a legal victory for two lawyers
who only last week were de-
nounced as "interlopers'' by Fed
eral Judge Irving kaufman in
New York City.
Two sets of petitions had been
submitted to Justice Douglas
after the full Supreme Court last
Monday refused a stay of execu-
tion, a review of the latest de-
cisions by the lower Federal
courts, and writ of habeas cor \
pus to obtain a hearing on the
legality and fairness of the con-
victionS and sentences.
Attorneys Emmanuel H. Bloch
and John F. Fiperty of New" York
City and Prof. Malcolm Sharp of
the University of Chicago Law
School raised substantially the
same questions that the full
Supreme Court refused to act
on last Monday. Justice Douglas
stated that he differed with the
court majority and said he
thought the case should have
been reviewed. But he said he
would bow to the decision of
the court and would not grant
q stay ION grounds which the
court has already rejected"
Acted Without Consent.
: Attorneys Fyke Farmer of
Nashville, Tenn, and Daniel G..
Marshall of Los Angeles filed pc
titionS for a stay of execution
and a writ of habeas corpus, but
did so without the formal con-
sent Of the attorneys for the
Rosenbergs.
The stay of execution which
Justice Douglas granted today
was the one asked by Mr.. Farm
er and Mr.. Marshall. who con-
tended that the RosenbergS were
Illegally sentenced to death ur1-
der the 1917 Espionage Act
which, they claimed, was super
seded by the Atomic Energy Act
so far as death sentence pro-
visions were related to the
Rosenberg case.
The Espionage Act of 1917 pro-
videS that a person who attempts
to send secret Government infor-
nation to a foreign nation in
time of war can be punished by
death or Imprisonment up to 80
years. The Atomic Energy Act
of 1946 provides that transmits