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+ 1 r iM Voids Religious iterature Tax i Pierre Iteclt to “Say Ordinances ~ - By Edward H. Higgs - | | | Violate Freedoms oe i Re \ geecctated ns Steg Write | . - Msanriat ad Prese Stez Beitas ‘In a “far-reaching opinion, the . Supreme Court yesterday ‘reversed By } its previous stand ‘and “declared ‘that municipal licenae taxes on | the sale of religions literature vin- le constitutional! guarantees of te fgeedom of the press, speech and religion. _ The court's 5-to-4 opinion’ writ- ten by Chief Justice Stone, upset a decision of iast June 8, in which the tribunal had upheld the valid- ity of municipal ordinances which {mposed the taxes in Opelika, Ala.; Fort Smith, Ark., and Casa Grande, Ariz, The ordinances were chal- lenged hv dJehavah's Witnaczoe who were | supported in briefs | (hate Sa by the American Newspaper Pub- lishers Association, the American Civil Liberties Union‘ and the gen- eral conference of Seventh Day Ad- ventista, The court set forth its reasons for yacating last year's decision in an@ther opinion, by Justice Dougtay, ruling invalid a similar ordinante in Jeanette, Pa. Justice | g Douglas\declared that if eommunt- ties or States were given the righi to tax the @issemination of views, “because they are unpopular, an- |g noying or Gistasteful,” It would be “a complete repudiation of the F. Bee COURT, Page 4, Col 4 F ane y . * tae ee Et saa eet maar eS ee ee ™ = be Ss Ody ve 13 1943 poberts and Frankfurter. Besides Rutledge those who voted to over- Tule the earlier decision were Chief Justice Stone and Justices Douglas, Black and Murphy. =, . °° In the tax case Justice “Douglas a ae ae dda | = inat ‘we hang aisiribu- tion of religious tracts is an age-old form of missionary evangelism,” and “occupies the same high estate under the First Arsendment as do worship in the churches and preach- ing from the pulpits.” . “It has the same claim te pro- tection as the more orthodox and conventional exercises of religions,” the opinion read. .“It also has the |, ‘same claim as the others to the i guarantees of freedom of speech ° and freedom of the press.” + Not Commercialized 7 \- 4 Justice Douglas held ‘that the ’ sale, instead of donation of the Ut ? erature, “does not transform evan- |: gelism into a commerctal enter- z prise." In other outstanding opinions yesterday the court—- | Held, in the first case of its kind |- to reach thi! tribunal, that a per-|- son claiming: ' exemption from mili- tary service’ s a conscientious fob- jector must Peport for inductio if his plea for exemption has bee turned down by the Selective S@rv: ‘ee director on; behalf of th President. Held unconstitutional a Struth ers, Ohio, ordinance prohibitin distributors of circulare from ring} ing 4 doorhells ar “gtherwies” sum ordinance also was challenged by ween Jehovah's Witnesses. . a ‘\ -_— mo”. as we - ” f * . ‘ Tléh¢e3 one