Court Opinion

ID: 7819748
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-09-07 17:49:44.848777+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:30:42.424748
License: Public Domain

Carleton Harris, Chief Justice, concurring in part; dissenting in part. I concur in part and dissent in part to the majority opinion. My concurrence is based on the fact that I agree that the decree must be reversed, but my dissent is premised on the fact that I disagree with the reason for reversal. I would reverse because I do not feel that the chancery court had jurisdiction. The statues passed upon by the chancellor are a part of the criminal law of our state, listed under the heading, “Treason, Disloyal Conduct, Sabotage.” While I agree with the majority that, under a number of United States Supreme Court decisions, membership alone in a communist organization, is insufficient to bar one from State employment, it is my view that the trial court, in rendering its decree, also took into consideration the provisions of Ark. Stat. Ann. § 41-4111 (Repl. 1964), which state: “(a) It shall be unlawful for any person; (1) to knowingly or willfully advocate, abet, advise, or teach the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government; (2) with the intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any government in the United States, to print, publish, edit, issue, circulate, sell, distribute, or publicly display any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence; (3) to organize or help to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any government in the United States by force or violence; or to be or become a member of, or affiliate with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof, (b) For the purposes of this section, the term ‘government in the United States’ means the government of the United States, or the government of this state.” A violation is a felony, and subjects the offender to a fine of up to $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than 10 years, or both, and the statute further provides that any person convicted shall not be eligible for employment by the state or any agency or department for the next five years following his conviction. The first finding made by the chancellor was that the activities of Cooper are in violation of the quoted section; it is then found that subsection (c) of § 41-4113 is valid and that Cooper is ineligible for employment by the State of Arkansas. In fact, the only reason for taking testimony was for the purpose of showing the activities of Cooper; there was certainly no reason to take testimony simply to show that he belonged to a communistic group, for he very readily admitted that. The constitutionality of § 41-4111 in its application to appellant, in my opinion, depends upon the extent of the activities of Cooper in furtherance of the prohibited objectives therein mentoned (with particular reference to subsection [a] [1], Yates v. United States, 354 U.S. 298, Noto v. United States, 367 U.S. 290, and I agree with appellant that the chancery court was without authority to make this determination for it had no jurisdiction. In this state, criminal felony violations are heard in the circuit court and we held in Ferguson v. Martineau, Chancellor, 115 Ark. 317, 171 S.W. 472, “It is no part of the mission of equity to administer the criminal law of the State. A court of equity has no jurisdiction over matters merely criminal or merely immoral.” The case of Gordon v. Smith, Chancellor, 196 Ark. 926, 120 S.W. 2d 325, involved efforts of certain citizens to enjoin police officers within this state from arresting, threatening to arrest, or otherwise interfering with the citizens in operating their automobiles upon the streets and highways because they had not complied with a statute providing for the testing of motor vehicles, it being the contention of the citizens that this statute was unconstitutional. This court, citing a number of cases, held that the chancery court was without jurisdiction and that the matter should be determined in a court of law. I do not reach the question of whether the evidence before the chancellor sustains a violation of § 41-4111 or any subsection therein, which would stand under United States Supreme Court decisions, for I am firmly convinced that the chancery court was without jurisdiction.