Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-14
CIVIL RIGHTS DEBATE SUNDAY .TAEs MEssEsngsn A.
The DISPOSITIONS Broad Attack

dictment by grand Jury: the con-
stitutional right Of trial by petit
jury.
. The constitutional guarantee
against double jeopardy.
. The statutory right Of trial BY
jury in indirect contempt cases.
. The statutory right to the
benefit of limited punishment for
indirect contempt.
Replies to Northern choroes
To the charge by civil rights
bill proponents that trial by jury
is slow and cumbersome and, in
civil rights cases in the South,
unlikely to result in conviction,
Senator Erwin replies: Happily
for liberty and justice in America,
the founders of our Government
hated judicial tyranny more than
they loved judicial haste" He
notes that the plea that jurors are
reluctant to convict was also the
reason used for setting up the in
famous Court of Star Chamber
and that demands for mob law
are usually based on the ground
that administration of justice in
the courts is too slow.
Just as proponents of the bill
question the sincerity Of the
Southern concern over the right
to trial by jury, so do the South
erners challenge the assertions
that the bill is designed only to
guarantee voting rights to South
ern Negroes. They insist that
hidden in the bill are provisions
that would not only permit the
Attorney General to integrate
Southern schools virtually by
edict. but would permit him to
become law almost unto him
self Further. Senator Erwin sees
the possibility Of q recurrence Of
Reconstruction days, when Fed
eral troops occupied the South.
The Senator explained 1t this
way last week:
The bill proposes to confer
upon the Attorney General the
power to bring suit to suppress
any of the practices specified in
section 1885, title AZ, of the
United States Code. This section
contains three subsections, and
each of these subsections has
many clauses. / call attention to
one clause alone. 1t contains q
provision authorizing the Attor-
ney General to bring suit in
the name of the United States in
cases where there are any con-
spiracies threatening or consum-
mated to deprive any person Of
the equal protection of the law
under the Fourteenth Amend
ment."
The Senator says that 240 pages
are required merely to state in Q
broad manner the number Of sub
jectS concerning which the At
torney General could litigate at
the expense of private taxpayers.
on behalf of citizens, aliens and
private corporations under this
one clause of subsection 3. section
1885. title AZ Of the United States
Code"
Sees Brood Powers
THE Attorney General. under
part III of the proposed law" said
Senator Erwin, would be en-
powered to bring literally hundreds
upon hundreds of different types
of cases, in addition to cases to
secure voting rights and to COM
pei the indignation of public
schools"
And in every one Of these cases,
according to Senator Erwin. 1.-The
President would have the au-
thority. under section 1898 Of
title AZ. to call out the Army, the
Navy, or the militia to enforce
the DEGREES"
And these are the reasons. say
the Southerners, that the bill ID
neither moderate nor liberal, as
1t has been advertised, but instead
extreme and reactionary.