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as boy he i ne f 0-19 (11-22-55) » ghecks and Balance «Ko Gnd paign | e Court/Rulings on Reds 7%... ., .Seen Halting Threat to Liberties 35. 2 ft ey Sy A fe politica from a front row seat tion, “in : here offers the opportunity ec. exploitation. and ~instrimenté of such exploitation always are set our stil] reliable checks and . balances at work. Periodically , " fhe long-time observer be- ; Comes aware af thie reflex ac- { tion in aperation, a : been called the genius of our } American system. It is a thrili-. , ing experience, :. , Many of us saw tt at work - 20 years ago at the initiative J of a popular, , dynamic President~-Franklin . D. Roosevelt. He was able ta i swing the Supreme Court of ; that day, which was balking powerful ‘and | at hand, ready, in our coun- | try as in others. They cropped up first in what was: named ° “The Un-American Activities Committee” of our House of tor at the other exd of the _ Capitol. He gave the frenzy ard hes high for awhile un- sured him inte obscurity. That oengufe wae a checks and balances operation. | . qd ww : [- Watching government ~ and ~*-rhis was 6 fertile field for own Senate colleagues ~ . checked his*course and cen- in ‘so-called “loyalty cases, 1¢! _ ruled in the case of the. 14: -, Callfornig Communists that,* 40 oD oe Work 4,33: mat under the Smith Act, it must? be ahown that there was actual: ‘intent to act td overthrow the._ Government. - Mere talk is pot j- , The string of Supreme Court‘! elvll rights cases haye DYO~ | voked considerabla criticism ahd ¢ontroversy naturally and On the ground, among others, that they will cripple the Gov- ernment and iis agencies in combatting communism. But the Supreme Court's function is‘ only to say whether con- | stitutional rights are infringed. It ig up to Congress to, revise * gt social and economic reform - ‘ Measures, in line to accept — Many of us who watched ' Federal legislation deemed Witnesses pilloried and pushed _ essential to protect the welfare 870Und by the House commit- court with Judges wha would be friendly to such reform, Today we are watching an- ; other significant checks and _ balances operation that is algo ‘abound to become historic. This ‘time it is the Supreme Court Se that fs out in front and ron ak {the initlative and has risen Nos tHon'that was ssrad by Chief Justice Earl Warren in his Momentous decision this week in the Watkiris case; 0. -. “Who can define the mean- “tg of un-American?” The trio of civil rights cases this past week, including the John T, Watkins case; carried i “walt @ minute”... ”- to say, in. effect: us back to others im recent weeks and showed that, ra oa 3t is acting to halt a threat A ’ . tual _liberti through this series, the Bu- Ton threat woe tion the preme Court waa executing 's ee west ST a “cold war” with Russia - Many innocent persone, ‘wees hecks ahd balances operation | inquisitorial frenzy sroused ° over communism that swept .~~of wich M is fully conseloms into Congress and special con- ere Tea fasion ve provarti gtessional committees, and to /ready struck at nu- the Age of McCarthy such a dark sge and a blot on 20th injured and a climate was Céltury America. -- .. ~ ereated where dissent trom ‘ The court held, in the highly | orthodox views was suspect to controversial Jencks case, thet the point that a stultifying “ the accused has a ‘right to [ conformity endangered indes : know the sources of derogatory pendence of thought and freé- evidence against him. It held,” dom of speech which sre‘go in the Watkins case, where the | nécessary to a democracy. +. Dlinols labor leader refused 16: The decade ef fear through ‘name to the Un-American Ao- which wé astruggied was a tivities Committee persons he natural development from the had known in the past’ who instinctive abhorrenge and ‘were Communists but no long- tear of communiam, That er such, that the committee” fear wo intensified by the had failed to show that auch. that information was necessary ‘ollowed the “hot” Secon#” ths “question under ing . orld War and was magni- In the John Stewart tinea by attempts ab Commu- - case i€ ruled that oroner vro 7 {hist Infiltration and subversion | cedurea must be strictly Woi-~ of our Government, -'. | Sowed by Government oMciais of our people, This he did by. e and later hy Joe McCarty - the threat of “packing” the asked exactly the same ques- - “that we Roosevelt court bill “was shely the laws to make them effec- tive while at the time preserving constitutional rights. This legislative process of correction could be regarded - in jiself as a part of the checks and balances operation. ..:. | ‘Bimilarly, President Roose-_ velt’s Supreme Court “pack-: ing” scheme of 20 years ago’ set up a checks and balances operation of its own at the: same time that if served to! move Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes to bring the. ‘court around to ratification of | social and economic reforms, . It became plain that our people. would not stomach such fnter- ference with the Supreme. Court as the President Pro-. posed and this reacted tn Con- gress. The consequence was ed. The over-all re _Sult, in balance, was that w. \ moved forward to meet th needs at the day but left th Wash. Post and -; Tolson Nichols Boardma f Be} nei nhl Mdhr Parsons —__ Rosen Tamm Nease _—— Vincterrowd ___ Tele. Room — Holloman Gandy YU ae |.“ ? | a4 y N.Y. Journal American N. ¥. Times Times Herald Wash. News ____ Wash. Star 2-73 9” N. Y. Herald Tribune N. Y. Mirror N. Y. 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