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\/ © @atgeRev, 6-97-56) 5 | neremeees inl aah ort alin Rete a HIGH COURTS CRITICS: GRUMBLE BUT CONFORM F.B.I. Records But i in Other Cases There is Little It Can Do 6? By ARTHUR KROCK. - : 7 partisan and Administration-backed measure to protect the “raw” confidential files of the F. B, I. from exploited by criminals, as a possible consequence of th preme Court decision in the Jencks case, the prospect is that Congress at cent rulings of the high court that have been widely pro- tested by members of Congress, among others. The likelihood hava ‘to content themselves with grumbling and the lower courts and lawyers with hermeneutics, That is because, though Congress possesses such furtda- ‘. mental powers to curb the Su-% > “ preme Court ag further limiting ' dts jurisdiction and reducing or increasing its membership, the national legislature has shrunk from exercising these in ‘fear that the remedy will be worse than the cause of the complaint. Moreover, Congress, like the ‘American p@&ple, has never found a satisfactory substitute for the role ofthe Supreme Court as final arbiter of the legality of Executive and Legia-|' tative actions, And the shifts of public opinion — usually led! “by a popular President — have occurred frequently enough in -“f. history to furnish an answer to @\ those who would curb it legis- > _latively that has been aocept- ‘able to Congress thus far. This answer is, that the Court will ~ never take very long to catch jw dpwdth the politic ot a Jarge popular majority, Ree - “public opinion suffered by Presi-! ‘to put-en end to adverse ruling: Congress May Pass a Law on Use of f ‘arm the high tribunal, But its | only when. the CHANGES COME wire TIME) . WASHINGTON, June 20—Except for’ a serious, bi- this session will not attempt to supervene by legislation re- is that, as on a number of previous occasions, the critics will * ‘fen - manner, * great defeat fn polities and dent F. D. Rooseveit (1987). His’ plan ¢o increase the number on the constitutionality of the. New Deal programs was handi-| cupped from the beginring by! the historic reluctance to strong- rejection became a certainty Court, under the leadership of Chiet Justice Hughés, ‘changed the trend of its constitutional thinking, Of seven .recent' Supreme Court decisions that have come under heavy critical fire the rul- ing in the Jencks case was the ‘only one fn’ which ‘the Hecessity for immediate legislation was demonstrable and the power of Congress to grant it was un- questionable. Justice Brennan's opinion'for the Court, granting the defendant more than he sought, gave the Department of Justice the alternative of dban- doning prosecution in a large | humber of critical security,. kid- napping,’ tax evasion and nar- cotic cases, of turning dver to the defendants all the confiden- tial F.B.i. reports that Govern- ; Ment witnesses drew on for tes- , timony. This posed a simulta- ‘neous threst to the essential function and yalug of the F. B. I. , ond to the protection of ‘the peo- ; ple from. heinous crime, ; Justice Brennan's language was And, so broad and generalized that the lower courts at once began} to interpret it in different ways in disposing of applicable cased. Limits to Decision In this situation it was easy for the Executive to combine with Democrats and Republicans in Congress on legislation which would hold the decision within limits wherein the rights of de- dants would be assured the protection of the trial judges without damaging the essential function of the F. B, L* - But that was not true of .the other six detisions which have been attacked by individual . meinbers of Congress, same very influential, hut in a sporadic ‘While’ the ruling in: duPont menaces- intercorpora-, | ton investments that were legal when made, and a | mergers, Congress fs polit ' diqpasadpzeinst helping out i en ee Trotter Nease Tele. Room Hollomen Gandy \y 2 is ——_ ee ee Wash. Post and Times Herald Wash. News Wash, Star N. Y. Herald Tribune N. Y. Journal- American N.Y. Mirror N.Y, Daily Ne N, Y. Times a oo Daily Worker The Worker New Leader Date —UN-3-0-4957—§ fy - —— ( | —.econdeo WZ JUL 9 1387 +