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4-25. ‘ 1.” Tolson | Te, 7 a / "Ladd Clegg “a { d Glavin +. ‘ i, foday an “Tomorrow Nido! ; vy H Rosen { By Walicr Lippmann \ \ Tracy 4 Np . ° Harbo : ‘ i _ McCarthy And The Constitulion.. Belmont? "1 - ; poi ie giesuon bells the MEANING ol these : wobr i Sena ors and 1_ Representatives ecomes quite clear ~The Constitution dggs not sus- Tele. Room__ nie above alli ihe 1 when we look into the events pend any of the laws e€ Nease i e_the which preceded them. During benefit ef a Senator. The Con- oe . _——— the struggle between the Stuart stitution says that when the al. Gandy_2-! i freedom _ 1 of kings and their Parliaments, leged offense is a speech in the i! T speech of other the King often attempted to in- Senate, the Senate and not the Ci American citi: timidate members of the House courts have jurisdiction of the i) zens. Ss. The gues of Commons. The great test offense, f* . lion has._beep = ease came in 1629 when three ow yee a ain Cte posed Defuse. in_so_extrome_a. form. ow MR. Mecca Pear a $ Ianmoann Lippmann THY, being Sonaier, enjoys the peiviieneh wiich are deseribed in Articl? 1. Section 6, Clause 1 of the Con- stitution. During his attendance at a session of the Senate, and while he is going to er relurning from the Capilol, he cannot be arrested execpt for treason, iel- eny, and breach af the peace. Furthermore, as a inember of Congress he enjoys the privilege that “for any speech or debate in either House tirey shall riot be questioned in any other place.” T have put the word “Coder? j- itaJies. because it is the key word both te our undevstanding et this great and historic privi- Vee and to the abuse of that privilege by Senator MeCarthy and bis senatuvial assistants. ow THE LANGUAGE of thi ecntence was at Jeast a hun fovea vears old woen the Foundg Rn Falhers used it in’ the fameriein Constitution. It is son from ihe English Bil of Kiengs which was enacted by Parvliament affer the revolution of 689. Seclion @ of (his fa- mons English statute declared flat freedom of speech and de- bate or protecdings in Parlia- nest “ought noi to be im- peached or questioned in any eourt a rplace out of Parlia- The ut Neither the American Con- stitution of 1789 nur the Eng. lish Bill of Rights of 1689 says that a legislator shall not he queslioned—that is to sav bela accountable—for what he savs in the Congress or in the Par- Tlament. The American doc e- ent says he cannel be queg- oued “in any olher place” ai AOeStIOne Tue anis ; rot he auesioued sms Wf [Sennen rors spaneh whieh vit ” Parliament," _ ales The Taw 7 1 La a r i i. a. + aE EE D2! t meyer however ‘lished In this case, leaders of the opposition—Sir John Eliot, ‘Denzil Hellis, and Benjamin Valentine-—were ar- ested, brought before the ing’s Bench, and given severe Yenalies for their speeches in ife House of Commons. For the next 60 years Parliaments fought the precedent estab- Nearly 40 years Jater, in 1667, the House of Commons passed a resoly- tion, and then had a conferende with the House of Lerds whic resulted in reversing formall on a writ of error, the judgmen of 1629, Twenty-two years afte er this reversal another Parlia- ment in the Bill of Rights re- affirmed the principle of parlia- mentary immunity from prose- cution in the courts or in any other place outside of Parlia- ment. THE PRINCIPLE ort ‘So seus umuatty Ten Feat that p Senator may not be “ques- iomea"—hat the Taws_o: or lipel rv any other laws, for exam ic, RecoMNYao-To-appIy to ham ROTS Ts Hor he Taintest indica fion ihat the english Parliament or The Anieritan Founding Fa- isis ever Imagined of Jabeaied tnatlefislators should be abeve and beyond the laws of the lahd. The great principle is that Por what a J ata jecislator says or dees inthe ;_sagislaiure ont ne Legislature, 7 e courts or the Seennine. may judge jim. Thé manifest intent of the Funelish Bill of Rights and of the Amerivan Conslilution was not is make Senator MeCarthy inn- mune to the Jaws of the land, lle is subject to all the laws of the Jand—the fraitic laws, the incuiie® lax laws, the Hhel laws, the aDsrenny Waws, and all the rest! He Tis has no special privileges Nhatsoever. one. sp | | THE PROOF that the Senate has jurisdiction in regulating the speech of Senators is to be found in the Rules of the Sen- ate. Rule XIX says that “no Sen- ator in debate shall, directly, or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another Senator or to other Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming | a Senator” and also that “no : Senator shall refer offensively to | any State of the Union.” It is true that in Rule XIX the Senate has limited ihe free- om of speech of Senators only Oo protect Senators—that under he rules as they now stand Sen ators ma¥ say anything they lik about anybody on earth except! only about another Senator, oH uo IT CANNOT be the clalm of enate.-or Ue intention of the Senate: 16 make of Sena- tors—a vate” apart, unbound bv ¢ taetaws of the land, cor the rules of justice, or é or the canons of de- ! etrey—Tr Wiat were to become | e prac ice, , ut McCarthyism Ine recognized a as. | {olerable wreat “principle or the Const. | tion would be_in jeopards. iberty, y, having degenerated into Ticénse, woi would 2 “agai oria orth (VTrann faked igna: Ea rjudeMchts inashamed on ed on all 1ngs hings all day Tong.” —~ . we Times~Herald INDEXED - 83 Wash. Post } d Wash. News Wash. Star N.Y. Mirror wed — Date: ivwv