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0-19 (Rev. 7-15-56) Pa ay) Vo cr Vir a 19] Tate Ta, ar reumventing ine Cor “€ “ , Wétothe ‘Btate Department try to circumvent: the Su preme Court port decision? The re | | contly-reteased testimony of Loftus E. Becker, ; ta tn the Department's legal adviser, before ‘the Hose igForeign Affairs Committee, indicates his bellef that the Department can still arbitrarily refuse’ © issue passports. despite the contrary Supreme Court ruling in June. If this is a fair conclusion ee Pen ee ee to draw fram Mr. Becker’s ieslimony, and we be- lieve it ts, Dulles would be exceedingly ill-advised to work such a dubious end ‘ run into State Department passport strategy. — * _ The Court held that the Secretary of State ¢ dose uot have the power to deny an American a p s _ port on an undefined or arbitrary basis. Although 4». ’ the decision dealt specifically. with twd cases in- a volving questions on passport applications about 5 , Communist Party _ membership and another case ee poacerning a State Department finding that a: _person’s presencd abroad would advance: the * f cause of the Communist Party, the Court's de- “3 ’ cision seemed to be broad enough to forbid any i b Sey basis for withholding passports. ' i “the right of exit’ is io be reguiated, said my the Court, this regulation “mugt be pursuant to ~ _ the law-making functions of the Congress. - And ¢ if that power is delegated, the standards must be y adequate to Pass scrutiny by the accepted tests.” wa , eurely this language enqompasses the areas =| ioe oneee 2 ers Becker mentioned im his testimony. ° .- Mr. Becker said that the State "Department ean sr deny a passport to a person whose presence [sroed would seriously impair the conduct of Joao States foreign relations or would be inimi- i Jat to the security of the United States, This view | , sharply contradicts the statement made by Deputy. : Under Secretary of State Murphy in July, Testify. :; ing before the Senate Foreign Relations Commit-* tee, which was then considering a passport bill ret quested by the State Department, Mr. Murphy ; 4 ‘said that the Department was powerless to pre. vent Communist agents from traveling abroad gt a result of the Supreme Court decigion. : .. m As the Court itself indicated, the proper ¢ course: for the State Department to take is to try to per + suade Congress, as, it did without success this ? summer, to spell out as clearly -as possible the conditions for the Issuance of passports. :. This F Hewspaper believes there should be few restric # tons on the right to travel; but whatever dis? “agreement there may be over the number and ; severity of these rules, there surely is no justif < Peation for the ‘position of seemingly outright dé eh] tase of the Supreme iors hat i. “Becker ppears to have {ken kes — "4 Sas tetas one Bo ae eens yp! felmont a ohr eaheran ) ate Holloman __ ‘eZ ey / ; a NOT Sor RECORDED “184 SEP 12 1958 eee ae Wash. Post and E-Y Times Herald Wash. News — Wash. Star N. Y, Herald Tribune N, Y. Journdl-____ Americon N. Y. Mirror N. Y, Daily News —— N. Y. Times ———__ Daily Worker —_____ The Worker 6 , New Leader * Se PE