Black Day for the Reds

This week, in its final "decision Monday" of the session, the Supreme Court upheld the conspiracy conviction of the eleven top U.S. Communists. The vote was 6 to 2. Chief Justice Vinson, in his 7,700-word majority opinion, called the Communist conspiracy a "clear and present danger."

Justice Holmes's famed dictum, that free speech is hazardous only when such a danger exists, "cannot mean that before the Government may act, it must wait until the Putsch is about to be executed, the plans have been laid and the signal is awaited," said Vinson.

Upholding for the first time the constitutionality of the 1940 Smith Act, Justice Vinson held: "An attempt to overthrow the Government by force, even though doomed from the outset because of inadequate numbers of power of the revolutionists, is a sufficient evil for the Congress to prevent."

The dissenters, Justices Black and Douglas, commented bitterly in separate opinions. Said Black: "Public opinion being what it now is, few will protest the conviction of these Communist petitioners. There is hope, however, that in calmer times . . . this or some later court will restore the first-amendment liberties to the high, preferred place where they belong in a free society . . . No matter how it is worded, this is a virulent form of prior censorship of speech and press."

Said Douglas: "We deal here with speech alone, not with speech plus acts of sabotage or unlawful conduct." He went on to ridicule the notion of a clear and present danger from U.S. Reds: "Communism in the world scene is no bogeyman; but Communists as a political faction or party in this country plainly is." U.S. Communists, he said, are "merchants of unwanted ideas."

The eleven convicted Communists have been out on from $20,000 to $30,000 bail apiece. They were convicted in Federal Judge Harold Medina's court 20 months ago and sentenced to penitentiary terms.

In other opinions, the Court:

P:Upheld the contempt-of-court sentences of the Communists' six lawyers, for their raucous courtroom conduct.

P:Ruled that cities may compel employees to take loyalty oaths, but may not fire them solely on grounds of past membership in the Communist Party. On this, the court split 5-4.

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