The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1959-09-04
JOSEPH BREIG-
How Not
To Be Free

This is the closing article in my series about the
court decisions in favor of the Lady Chatterley'a
Lover" movie and book.
In u%pholding New York States ban on the movie.
the Circuit Court of Appeals said:
What can society do about protecting itself
from motion pictures which are c%orruptive of the
public morals?
We hold that it may refuse to license q motion
picture which alluringly ~portrays adultery as proper
behavior.
so hold with full confidence that our Found
ing Fathers never intended that our federal Constitu-
ton be the altar upon which the state, and this ma
tlon, must sacrifice themselves to the ravages of
moral corruption.
Our Constitution is a document of government,
not a tool for anarchy or a license for corruption
That is my opinion also. The Circuit Courts ruiz
ing was overthrow by the US. Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court said that the Constitution
protects advocacy even "aluring advocacy in the
movies - of adultery as right and desirable.
AS Sen. James o. Eastland, chairman of the Sem
ate Judiciary Committee, commented in a Senate
speech: so now it is a constitutionaly protected lib
erty to urge adultery upon the youth of this nation"
Adultery is a crime; and if adultery may be al
luringly advocated, presumably so can any other
Presumably the way is open for any foreign ma
ton to produce movies advocating crime and SUBJ
version. and distribute them in America. The Chat
terey movie was French-produced
A few weeks ago, the city of krlStlanstad. SWeds
Ell population 27,O00) was terrorized by 200 leather
~lacketed young men and women who came roaring
in riding motorcycles and souped up lalopies.
THE VISITORS soon we're rioting. Pedestrians
were thrown off sidewalks. Fires were started, and
when firemen arrived. they were bombarded with
rocks and bottles of flaming gasoline - "Molotov
cocktails"
Drunken girls paraded the streets, half-naked
and screaming obscenitieS. Couples publicly staged
shameful orgies. Police we're overpowered. Army
units finally stopped the aWlessness-but 20 persons
were in hospitals, and one young man had lost an
eye.
The 200 hoodlums proudly called themselves
"The Wild Ones, after a movie Of that name,
starring Marion Brando. The moral Of the incident is
obvious.
But, say some people, the Supreme Court is pro-
tectinc freedom of expression. ] deny this.
FREEDOM CANNOT survive in a vacuum. Free
dom can exist only within right order. Right order is
impossible if government is held powerless to re-
the young.
The Supreme Court has gone astray in forget
ting what the Circuit Court said-that our Constitu-
tion is a document of government, not a tool for an
archy or a license for corruption.
The court has Strayed in not remembering what
Justice Michael A. Musmanno of the Supreme Court
Of Pennsylvania expressed III saying: American de-
mocracy is founded on Gods order in the world
The Constitution was written to safeguard po-
litical freedoms and inalienable human rights given
to men - as the Declaration of Independence says
by their Creator.
THE CONSTITUTION was never meant to pro-
tect advocacy of crime and immortality. The Constitu-
tion stands within the framework of conscience and
the great basic moral code.
The Supreme Court errs in not seeing that the
Constitution grants no freedom to destroy freedom
or the foundations of freedom. This court has gravely
imperilled all our freedoms - including freedom of
speech and press.
George Washington warned us, and the North
west Ordinance reminds us, that religion and morali-
prosperity. The Supreme Court needs re-education in
American history and tradition.
The American people must not let the Chatterley
error stand uncorrected.