Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-08-22

or the act Is this provision: lt 10 une
lawful ito organize or help to organ.
lie any society, group. or assembly
Of persons who teach, advocate. or
encourage the overthrow or destruc-
ton of any government In the
United States by force or violence:
or to be or become member Of, or
affiliate with, any such society. group
or assembly Of persons. knowing the
purposes thereof"
Actually the Humphrey plan II
quite close in its wording to the
Smith Act except for the indirect
punishment finally inserted In the
Humphrey plan. The Smith Act Is
broader, but insofar as an individual.
knowing" member of the Commu-
mist Party Is concerned, the effects
of the two laws apparently would DO
the same.
The Humphrey plan. however. sets
up II criteriA for q court to use In
determining who Is q knowing mem.
ber The criteria are so all-encom.
passing that virtually any person
who has given any helping hand to
the party would seem to be q know
ing member" That might make 1t
easier to enforce. Or. the criteria
might be so broad q court would
throw out that section.
But if the Justice Department did
not like the Humphrey provisions,
presumably it would be free to ignore
it and stick to the Smith Act. At the
same time, however, q defendant
could claim he was being prosecuted
under the wrong act. and it would
take the courts many months to rule
him wrong-or possibly right.
lnternal Security Act
How about the Internal Security
Act? That law has many provisions,
but the pertinent one here requires
Communist Party members to regis
ter with the Justice Department.
The Humphrey bill in the early YER.
sions would have killed that provi-
sion.
The Court of Appeals Of the Dis
srict of Columbia is deciding whether
the party must register as ordered
under the Internal Security Act. The
case probably will 60 on up to the
Supreme Court.
If ordered to register, the Internal
Security Act says, a Communist may
not decline to do SO on the grounds
of possible self observation-disclosures
provided in the Fifth Amendment.
Instead that law specifies that simple
party membership is not crime.
The registrant gets sort of legal
immunity" insofar as membership
per Sc is concerned. Therefore reg
iStration could not be discriminating.
Though the Humphrey plan speci-
fed that the Internal Security Act
was not changed, it Is hard to see
how the Senator's clause making
knowing membership" a crime
squared with the immunity provi-
sion.
If the Humphrey bills IA criteria
should be used as legal guide.
then court certainly would rule
that registration as Communist
Party member is knowing member
ship" So in view of this possible
self determination. a court probably
would be inclined to uphold Fifth
Amendment plea and vitiate the
registration law.
A joint House-Senate conference
finally worked out plan which, it
was hoped, would retain the effects
Of the Humphrey formula. but re-
move its threat to the Internal Sc
curity registration program.
This was done by altering the bill
to specify that the knowing Com
munist shall be subject to all the
provisions and penalties of the In
ternal Security Act of 1850 as a
member of Communist action
organization"
The amendment apparently meant
this: If the Justice Department
wanted to use the Humphrey plan
against Communist. it would prove
in court the man was knowing
Communist. The Red then would
have to register. If he did register
there would be no Jail sentence, 50
he could not plead Fifth Amend
ment. But If he refused to register,
he would be subject to 10 years
imprisonment and $4,000 fine.
If he took the unlikely course and
did register. he would lose certain
civil rights.
In effect the new plan, II IL
worked. could short-circuit the
established Internal Security pro-
cedure. Instead of waiting for the
Supreme Court to order all Com
munists to be registered-an order
that Is at least year away II the
court does uphold tan individual
Communist could be forced at any
time to register.
But since the Smith Act still con-
tains a penalty clause. 1t is possible
the Communist might successfully
plead the Fifth Amendment when
ordered to register under any cir.
cumstances.
ConstitutionoIity
Would the Humphrey plan be
unconstitutional? The Senator
thought 1t was constitutional but
was not willing to be positive. Prin-
cipal question was whether Congress
has the power to declare the Com
munist Party an illegal. conspiracy.
The courts, in enforcing the Smith
Act, have ruled the party to be o
conspiracy. But does that give Con-
gress the right to rule 1t illegal by
fiat. It was an unanswerable
question at this point.
On balance, the Humphrey bill
would seem to offer the Justice
Department:
No better law than the Smith
act.
No more Of q handicap to the
working of the Internal Security
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