Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-04-01
High Court Restores
Deserter's Citizenship

WA1SOdACA JOAAiCO AA VAAAo
opinion. Justices Brennan con-
Cured but on the grounds that
the power given Congress to
wage war does not include
power TO expatriate o deserter.
II simply cannot accept q
Judgment that Congress is free
to adopt any measure at all
to demonstrate its displeasure
and exact its penalty from the
offender against its laws"
Justice Brennan said.
Justice Frankfurter, speaking
for the minority, declared:
!. The war power of Con-
gress empowers the denational-
ization provision and lit Is not
for us to deny that Congress
might reasonably believe that
morale and fighting efficiency
of our troops would be i'm
paired II our soldiers knew that
their fellows who had aban-
doned them in their time Of
greatest need were to remain
in the communion Of our
citizens.
2. Loss of citizenship is not
cruel and unusual punishment
for a crime that could be
punished by death.
Restraint Advised
Justice Frankfurter warned
that the judiciary must handle
with care laws passed by the
legislative branch. The ave-
some power Of this court to In
validate such legislation. be-
cause in practice it is bounded
only by our own prudence in
discerning the limits of the
courts constitutional function.
must be exercised with the ut
most restraint he cautioned.
His dissent was Joined by JUS
tices Burton, Clarke and Har-
Ian
In the Perez vote case. JUS
tice Frankfurter, speaking for
the majority. said that the
power to denationalize one who
votes in a foreign election
springs from Congress au-
thority to conduct foreign af-
fairs.
THE critical connection be-
! tween this conduct and lose Of
citizenship Is the fact that II
is the possession Of American
citizenship by a person com.
hitting the act that makes the
act potentially embarrassing to
the American Government and
pregnant with the possibility
of embroiling this country in
disputes with other nations"
he said. The opinion was con-
Cured in by Justices Burton,
Clark. Harlan and Brennan. 70
AS in the Trop case. Chief
Justice Warren based his dis
sent in Perez on the doctrine
that citizenship cannot be
taken away but must have
been shown to have been given
UP voluntarily.
Effect Denied
Doubtless under some cir
cumstances a vote in q foreign
election would have this effect, =
he said. But. he declared. such
was not true in the Perez case.
He was Joined by Justices Black
and Douglas. Justice Whitaker
also dissented but on the
ground that vote provision was
couched In too-hroad terms.
The third Standardization
case involved Mitzugi Nishi-
kawak. an American-born Jap
anese Of dual citizenship who
said he was forced to join the
Japanese Army after he was
caught in that country by the
outbreak Of World War II.
AS a result Of his service he
lost his American citizenship
under terms Of the Nationality
Act. He appealed but lost in
the lower courts.
In reversing the lower courts
decisions and remanding the
case. the Supreme Court ma
jority held that the. Govern
ment had the burden Of proving
Nishikawa voluntarily had SER
we'd in the Japanese Army. The
Government had failed to sus-
tain this burden. Chief Justice
Warren declared in speaking
for the majority. Justice Harlan
and Clark dissented.
The Courts action in other
cases:
Contempt
The court declared that three
year terms given Communist
leaders Gilbert Green and
Henry Winston was not an
abuse of discretion by the SEN
fencing Judge. The sentence
had been meted after the de-
PENDANTS had failed to abide
by a court order to appear for
sentencing following their con-
viction on Smith Act charges.
!, Tax Fraud
The court refused to review
the convictions Of Matthew J,
Connolly and T. Lamar Caudle
for conspiring to fix a tax case,
Connolly was an appoint
ment secretary for President
Truman. Caudle once headed
the Justice Departments tax
division. Each are under a
two-year prison sentence and