Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/278/63/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 06:10:40+00:00

Document:
Messrs. John H. Connaughton and W. F. Zumbrunn, both of Washington, D. C., for plaintiff in error.
Messrs. Walter F. Hofheins and John H. Clogston, both of Buffalo, N. Y., and Albert Ottinger, of New York City, for defendants in error.
Section 237a of the Judicial Code (section 344, title 28, U. S. Code) provides that this court may review upon writ of error 1 'a final judgment or decree in any suit' in the court of last resort of a state 'where is drawn, in question the validity of a statute of any state, on the ground of its being repugnant to the Constitution, treaties, or laws of the United States, and the decision is in favor of its validity.' It is under this provision that a review is invoked.
With these general rules in mind we turn to what is shown in this case. The petition for habeas corpus, while asserting that the state statute was 'unconstitutional,' contained no mention of any constitutional provision, state or federal. The opinion delivered by the court of first instance was similarly indefinite. Up to that point it is left uncertain whether the claim of invalidity was grounded on some provision of the state Constitution, or on some provision of the Constitution of the United States, or on both. If this were all, there plainly would be no basis for a review in this court. But more appears. The relator took an appeal to the Appellate Division. The appeal was not accompanied by an assignment of errors, but this was not an omission. The local practice does not recognize an assignment of errors as known in other jurisdictions; it merely requires the appellant to set forth in a printed brief 'the points to be relied on by him.' In the opinion delivered, which for present purposes is deemed part of the record, 4 the Appellate Division stated distinctly that the relator's claim of invalidity was grounded on asserted repugnance to both the due process of law clause of the state Constitution and the clauses hereinbefore quoted from the Fourteenth Amendment. After so stating the claim the court considered it at length and denied it. From that decision the relator appealed to the Court of Appeals. Again the appeal was not accompanied by an assignment of errors, and for the same reason as before. See rule 7, Court of Appeals Rules. The appeal was entertained and the decision of the Appellate Division was affirmed. The Court of Appeals in its opinion does not mention the Constitution of the state or the Fourteenth Amendment, but does state that the relator was asserting the 'unconstitutionality' of the statute on the ground that it deprived him of his liberty without due process of law and denied him the equal protection of the laws, etc. Nothing in the opinion is at all indicative of an abandonment by the relator of his reliance on the Fourteenth Amendment which was so distinctly stated in the opinion of the Appellate Division. On the contrary, the court's discussion of the case and its citation of authorities proceed as if it were considering the identical claim of invalidity that was presented in the Appellate Division and there denied. Among the citations are several decisions of this court dealing only with the clauses before quoted from the Fourteenth Amendment. Indeed, the opinion shows that in upholding the statute against the contention that it denies the equal protection of the laws the Court of Appeals practically rested its decision 'on the authority' of Radice v. New York, 264 U. S. 292, 296, 297, 44 S. Ct. 325, 68 L. Ed. 690. where another statute of New York assailed as in conflict with the equal protection clause of that amendment was sustained.
From this showing in the record, coupled with the absence from the state Constitution of an equal protection of the laws clause, we think it apparent that the claim of invalidity by reason of the statute's repugnance to the Fourteenth Amendment was presented to the Court of Appeals and that by its decision the statute was upheld against that claim.
Upon looking at that decision as published in the official reports (241 N. Y. 405, 150 N. E. 497, 43 A. L. R. 909), we find it stated by the reporter in his accompanying synopsis of the briefs that the brief on behalf of the relator embodied the specific claim that the statute was invalid because in conflict with the equal protection and other provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment. But, as we otherwise reach the conclusion that the claim was adequately made, there is no need to notice what is said in the reporter's synopsis beyond observing that it probably points to the reason why both parties, and the Chief Judge who allowed the writ of error, treated the case as one in which the question of the validity of the statute under the Constitution of the United States had been properly presented.
Our jurisdiction to review the decision is questioned also because of the nature of the case, it being a proceeding in habeas corpus brought to obtain the discharge of one who is held in custody to answer a charge of violating a state statute alleged to be invalid by reason of its conflict with the Constitution of the United States. But we think our jurisdiction is in this regard so well established by prior decisions and long-continued practice that it is not debatable.
The proceeding before us was not brought in antagonism to the established practice in the state, but in entire keeping with that practice as confirmed by local statutes. Civil Practice Act, art. 77, §§ 1230-1235, 1251. This was recognized in the decisions given by the courts of the state. And the proceeding was independent, adversary and both adapted and directed to the enforcement of a most important personal right. It is quite unlike the fragmentary or branch proceeding considered in Grays Harbor Logging Co. v. Coats-Fordney Logging Co., 243 U. S. 251, 256, 37 S. Ct. 295, 61 L. Ed. 702; the judgment in which was held to be interlocutory only, and not final in the sense of the jurisdictional statute.
The offense charged against the relator is that he attended meetings and remained a member of the Buffalo Provisional Klan of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, an unincorporated association-but neither a labor union nor a benevolent order mentioned in the benevolent orders law-having a membership of more than 20 persons and requiring an oath as a prerequisite or condition of membership, he then having knowledge that such association had wholly failed to comply with the requirement in section 53.
The relator's contention under the due process clause is that the statute deprives him of liberty in that it prevents him from exercising his right of membership in the association. But his liberty in this regard, like most other personal rights, must yield to the rightful exertion of the police power. There can be no doubt that under that power the state may prescribe and apply to associations having an oath-bound membership any reasonable regulation calculated to confine their purposes and activities within limits which are consistent with the rights of others and the public welfare. The requirement in section 53 that each association shall file with the secretary of state a sworn copy of its constitution, oath of membership, etc., with a list of members and officers is such a regulation. It proceeds on the two-fold theory that the state within whose territory and under whose protection the association exists is entitled to be informed of its nature and purpose, of whom it is composed and by whom its activities are conducted, and that requiring this information to be supplied for the public files will operate as an effective or substantial deterrent from the violations of public and private right to which the association might be tempted if such a disclosure were not required. The requirement is not arbitrary or oppressive, but reasonable and likely to be of real effect. Of course, power to require the disclosure includes authority to prevent individual members of an association which has failed to comply from attending meetings or retaining membership with knowledge of its default. We conclude that the due process clause is not violated.
The main contention made under the equal protection clause is that the statute discriminates against the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and other associations in that it excepts from its requirements several associations having oath-bound membership, such as labor unions, the Masonic fraternity, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Grand Army of the Republic, and the Knights of Columbus-all named in another statute, which provides for their incorporation and requires the names of their officers as elected from time to time to be reported to the secretary of state.
We assume that the Legislature had before it such information as was readily available, including the published report of a hearing before a committee of the House of Representatives of the Fifty-Seventh Congress relating to the formation, purposes, and activities of the Ku Klux Klan. 8 If so it was advised-putting aside controverted evidence-that the order was a revival of the Ku Klux Klan of an earlier time, with additional features borrowed from the Know Nothing and the A. P. A. orders of other periods; that its membership was limited to native-born, gentile, protestant whites; that in part of its constitution and printed creed it proclaimed the widest freedom for all and full adherence to the Constitution of the United States, in another exacted of its members an oath to shield and preserve 'white supremacy,' and in still another declared any person actively opposing its principles to be 'a dangerous ingredient in the body politic of our country and an enemy to the weal of our national commonwealth'; that it was conducting a crusade against Catholics, Jews, and negroes, and stimulating hurtful religious and race prejudices; that it was striving for political power, and assuming a sort of guardianship over the administration of local, state, and national affairs; and that at times it was taking into its own hands the punishment of what some of its members conceived to be crimes.
Criticism is made of the classification on the further ground that the regulation is confined to associations having a membership of 20 or more persons. Classification based on numbers is not necessarily unreasonable. There are many instances in which it has been sustained. We think it not unreasonable in this instance. With good reason the Legislature may have thought that an association of less than 20 persons would have only a negligible influence, and be without the capacity for harm that would make regulation needful.
And upon that ground alone it sought the petitioner's release. The petition did not refer to the Federal Constitution or any statute of the United States.
The writ of habeas corpus followed the usual form: The record contains no return thereto.
The foregoing is the only direct reference to Federal Constitutional or laws disclosed by the record.
The language of the Act of February 13, 1925 (28 USCA § 344), and of the Judiciary Act of 1789 ( 1 Stat. 85, § 25), presently important, is substantially the same.
'The Supreme Court of the state did not refer to the Federal Constitution or consider and decide any federal question. For aught that appears, the court proceeded in its determination of the cause without any thought that it was disposing of such a question.
Crowell v. Randell, 10 Pet. 368, 392, 9 L. Ed. 458; Mississippi & M. Railroad Co. v. Rock, 4 Wall. 177, 180, 18 L. Ed. 381; California Powder Works v. Davis, 151 U. S. 389, 393, 14 S. Ct. 350, 38 L. Ed. 206; Cincinnati, etc., railway v. Slade, 216 U. S. 78, 83, 30 S. Ct. 230, 54 L. Ed. 390; Hiawassee Power Co. v. Carolina-Tenn. Co., 252 U. S. 341, 343, 40 S. Ct. 330, 64 L. Ed. 601; New York v. Kleinert, 268 U. S. 646, 650, 45 S. Ct. 618, 69 L. Ed. 1135-Were cited. See, also, Mellon v. O'Neil, 274 U. S. 212, 214, 48 S. Ct. 62, 72 L. Ed. 245; Dewey v. Des Moines, 173 U. S. 193, 199, 19 S. Ct. 379, 43 L. Ed. 665; Keokuk & Hamilton Bridge Co. v. Illinois, 175 U. S. 626, 634, 20 S. Ct. 205, 44 L. Ed. 299.
The function of a writ of habeas corpus is to test the validity of challenged imprisonment-not the guilt or innocence of the prisoner. And over and over again this court has asserted that it will not permit habeas corpus to perform the office of a writ of error.
The acts of January 32, 1928, c. 14, 45 Stat. 54, and April 26, 1928, c. 440, 45 Stat. 466 (28 USCA §§ 861a, 861b), substituted an appeal for a writ of error. See Revised Rules, 275 U. S. Appendix, pp. 630, 646, 647.
Crowell v. Randell, 10 Pet. 368, 392, 398, 9 L. Ed. 458; Nielson v. Lagow, 12 How. 98, 109, 110, 13 L. Ed. 909; Furman v. Nichol, 8 Wall. 44, 56, 19 L. Ed. 370; Green Bay, etc., Canal Co. v. Patten Paper Co., 172 U. S. 58, 67, 68, 19 S. Ct. 97, 43 L. Ed. 364; St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Ry. Co. v. Starbird, 243 U. S. 592, 598, 599, 37 S. Ct. 462, 61 L. Ed. 917; Whiteney v. California, 274 U. S. 357, 360, 47 S. Ct. 641, 71 L. Ed. 1095.
Crowell v. Randell, supra; Chapman v. Goodnow, 123 U. S. 540, 548, 8 S. Ct. 211, 31 L. Ed. 235; Bell's Gap R. R. Co. v. Pennsylvania, 134 U. S. 232, 236, 10 S. Ct. 533, 33 L. Ed. 892; Walter A. Wood Co. v. Skinner, 139 U. S. 293, 295, 11 S. Ct. 528, 35 L. Ed. 193; Roby v. Colehour, 146 U. S. 153, 159-160, 13 S. Ct. 47, 36 L. Ed. 922; St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Ry. Co. v. Starbird, supra, page 601 of 243 U. S. (37 S. Ct. 462).
Murdock v. Memphis, 20 Wall, 590, 633, 22 L. Ed. 429; Philadelphia Fire Association v. New York, 119 U. S. 110, 116, 7 S. Ct. 108, 30 L. Ed. 342; San Jose Land & Water Co. v. San Jose Ranch Co., 189 U. S. 177, 179, 180, 23 S. Ct. 487, 47 L. Ed. 765; Neilson v. Lagow, 12 How. 98, 109, 110, 13 L. Ed. 909.
Smith v. Alabama, 124 U. S. 465, 8 S. Ct. 564, 31 L. Ed. 508; Osborne v. Florida, 164 U. S. 650, 17 S. Ct. 214, 41 L. Ed. 586; Lieberman v. Van De Carr, 199 U. S. 552, 26 S. Ct. 144, 50 L. Ed. 305; Silz v. Hesterberg, 211 U. S. 31, 29 S. Ct. 10, 53 L. Ed. 75; Flaherty v. Hanson, 215 U. S. 515, 30 S. Ct. 179, 54 L. Ed. 307; Collins v. Texas, 223 U. S. 288, 32 S. Ct. 286, 56 L. Ed. 439; Sligh v. Kirkwood, 237 U. S. 52, 35 S. Ct. 501, 59 L. Ed. 835.
Ableman v. Booth, 21 How. 506, 16 L. Ed. 169; In re Neagle, 135 U. S. 1, 10 S. Ct. 658, 34 L. Ed. 55; Ward v. Race Horse, 163 U. S. 504, 16 S. Ct. 1076, 41 L. Ed. 244; Urquhart v. Brown, 205 U. S. 179, 181-182, 27 S. Ct. 459, 51 L. Ed. 760. And see Weston v. Charleston, 2 Pet. 449, 464, 7 L. Ed. 481; Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U. S. 537, 16 S. Ct. 1138, 41 L. Ed. 256; Mt. Vernon Cotton Co. v. Alabama Power Co., 240 U. S. 30, 36 S. Ct. 234, 60 L. Ed. 507; Detroit & Mackinac Ry. Co. v. Michigan R. R. Comm., 240 & M. Ry. Co. v. Taylor, 266 U. S. 200, 45 S. Ct. 47, & M. By. Co. v. Taylor, 266 U. S. 200, 45 S. Ct. 47, 69 L. Ed. 247.
Slaughter House Cases, 16 Wall. 36, 77, et seq., 21 L. Ed. 394; Bradwell v. Illinois, 16 Wall. 130. 139, 21 L. Ed. 442; Bartemeyer v. Iowa, 18 Wall. 129, 133, 21 L. Ed. 929; Minor v. Happersett, 21 Wall. 162, 171, 22 L. Ed. 627; United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U. S. 542, 551, 552, 23 L. Ed. 588; Giozza v. Tiernan, 148 U. S. 657, 661, 13 S. Ct. 721, 37 L. Ed. 599; In re Lockwood, 154 U. S. 116, 117, 14 S. Ct. 1082, 38 L. Ed. 929.
House Committee Hearings, 1921, vol. 302. See, also, The Challenge of the Klan, by Stanley Frost; The Ku Klux Klan, by John M. Mecklin.
'Section 53. Copies of Documents and Statements to be Filed.-Every existing membership corporation, and every existing unincorporated association having a membership of twenty or more persons, which corporation or association requires an oath as a prerequisite or condition of membership, other than a labor union or a benevolent order mentioned in the benevolent orders law, within thirty days after this article takes effect, and every such corporation or association hereafter organized, within ten days after the adoption thereof, shall file with the secretary of state a sworn copy of its constitution, by-laws, rules, regulations and oath of membership, together with a roster of its membership, and a list of its officers for the current year. Every such corporation and association shall, in case its constitution, by-laws, rules, regulations or oath of membership or any part thereof, be revised, changed or amended, within ten days after such revision or amendment file with the secretary of state a sworn copy of such revised, changed or amended constitution, by-law, rule, regulation or oath of membership. Every such corporation or association shall within thirty days after a change has been made in its officers file with the secretary of state a sworn statement showing such change. Every such corporation or association shall at intervals of six months file with the secretary of state a sworn statement showing the names and addresses of such additional members as have been received in such corporation or association during such interval.
'Section 54. Resolutions Concerning Political Matters.-Every such corporation or association shall, within ten days after the adoption thereof, file in the office of the secretary of state every resolution, or the minutes of any action of such corporation or association, providing for concerted action of its members or of a part thereof to promote or defeat legislation, federal, state or municipal, or to support or to defeat any candidate for political office.
'Section 55. Anonymous Communications Prohibited.-It shall be unlawful for any such corporation or association to send, deliver, mail or transmit to any person in this state who is not a member of such corporation or association any anonymous letter, document, leaflet or other written or printed matter, and all such letters, documents, leaflets or other written or printed matter, intended for a person not a member of such corporation or association, shall bear on the same the name of such corporation or association and the names of the officers thereof together with the addresses of the latter.

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