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. P 201RPUR - ‘ a "Ladd _ : ' Clegg. . Glavin : BN Nichols t . Rosen a Tracy © Harbo ; : Belmont w 9 Z Mobr nn t P ; . PeTators OLeCCLEGII eee. Room . aan Nease . * + t . By Marquis Childs Gand * ee ee se _ — r ee - . See HERE ARE many, including | - ; Immunity And Discipline— some Senators themselves, who | ' _ THY. DAMAGE suffered by ine) Cleve the Senate has stftefed fe “ i dividuals who fall vietim to reck- In his Commentaries on the dgmage from the McCarthy faf- avy. is , i iets and irresponsible behavior | COWSticurion the eistinguished fair. This includes Republicans ( le 1 ot cis done under the cloak offeongres- | American jurist, Joseph Story, ; Wi0 have disassociated =them- a : sinta immunity ccc vq | Held that while the legislator ! selves from the McCarthy at- / i is bon m ediately i" | was privileged to make the ‘cks. ea: s apparert. The | Speech, publication of It would Under the Constitution the ‘ : damage to our ' subject him to a charge of libel. . Senate and the House have the jastitutions is Story wrote: ‘ authority to make their own . pot $0 apparent. ' “No man ought to have the rules. This includes the right ‘ But it is none- right to defame others under the fo expel a member for improper é theless real and color of a performance of the behavior by a two thirds vote. H fi raises seme | duties of his office. And if he— Improper behavior has been t disturbing ques- | ' does so in the actual discharge taken to mean a crime of the first t ; tiaas about what | ‘ of his duties in the Congress magnitude, such as treason or : * Fras been hap- Ma | that furnishes no reason why he. Some act of moral turpitude. In ui ! ‘pening during nll — ; should be able, through the me- recent years two members of the : \ recent weeks as Childs _ dium of the press, to destroy the enate vele fipelled, but they $ ww, J indiseriininate charges, Several | oF other citizens. It is neither : 1 = sof the injured individuals have; withia the scope of his duty nor paigns, Although they had been i \ challenved the Senator to say } in the furtherance of public allowed to take their seats in the : We <. | without the protection of his eon- | rights or public policy. Every Se eta ee nclneae becaue ; t: gressional immunity what he has | Oren has as good a right to be of the suspected fraud rause ‘Lsald under that privilege. While Brotected by the la - . al secining to meet this challenge, nant scandal and false eee, Sen ete en rene sald, we + . ve ae in fact evaded it hibel ang defamatory imputations fs tributes of * very Sxclusive club. ey Ww sue him for libel ~* ee fo ; 1 ‘ ) § or Slander if he made the same ~ » ember of Congress has The members jealously guard : charge rithout immunity. It is | Qcer them in his seat. If it we years ago the charge of homo-' a »- [fairly clear that such a suit could |; i ‘s character | : set i ~ OE ; ‘? ginerwise, a man sexuality was impute : ‘ be pusiained if witnesses could |: puight be taken away without the one Senator sad the ranks er nis sD [ Sinator MeCarthy sesested mar || possibility of rede tse either BY "fellow members quickly closed wope - ed pri- the malice or indiscretion | round him in defense. ~ {rately ] } 1 ae * mor privilege he had overweening self-conceit of 8 But the public in this instance “1% 1 had an experience which member of Congres’ the courts | Is entitled at the very least to >) Fthrows some tight P Later decisions |; know the circumstances. behind met §e1 ton ght on this. For- altered this construction. Bona | the outbreak. In particular; the Peaneleenia Joseph Guifey of fide publication was held to be | influence of the Nationalist floor of ama of i ged on the immune from the charge of libel’ China lobby and its paid repre- enate that I had or slander. But, plainly, the re- sentatives should be brought to Pag sponsibility of the legislator was to be assumed as the following from the decision of a Federal court in Washington expresses it: ‘presumably legislators wilt be restrained in the exercise of such a privilege by the respon- sibilities of their office. More- can fgreign policy. And in fhe over, in the event of their fail- progéss harm has been don? to Wash. urb in that regard, they will be the /institutions of free govern- subject to discipline bee mee a ‘ —— colleagues. a ee. Saar light. If reports of the lobby’s role are even partly true, here is an extraordinary instance of the A - representatives, paid agents and Times Herald advocates: of a foreign power ‘ creating something close chaos in the conduct of Ameyi- Wash. Post ;for wriling a story about oil + | deals in Mexico involving Guffey and John L. Lewis. I learned he had sald the same thing to re- porters off the floor and i hrought suit for slander. After a number of depositions had been taken, Guffey officially apologized on the Senate ffoor. There Was no claim of immunity. No one can question the right of a legislator to say what he |-Pleases with immunity from prosecution for his remarks. This goes back to the mosts of parltmentary history, and <t has ’ been ‘peatediy sustained by\he 7} 5) _ i paid by a large oii company - News Star ao j INPEXTN - 5 ten ee eatala aes