THE SUPREME COURT: Books Closed

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Closing the books on two significant, long-pending cases, the Supreme Court this week:

¶ Upheld Federal Judge Harold R. Medina in slapping contempt judgments on the five attorneys who, with harassing courtroom tactics, defended the eleven top Communists convicted in New York in 1949 for violation of the Smith Act. The court, wrote Justice Jackson for the majority (in a 5-3 split), will always stand behind lawyers in fearless performance of their duty, but "will not equate contempt with courage or insults with independence." Dissenters Black, Frankfurter and Douglas held that the attorneys were entitled to trial by jury in another court. Added Douglas and Frankfurter: "One who reads the record . . . will have difficulty in determining whether members of the bar conspired to drive a judge from the bench, or whether the judge used the authority of the bench to whipsaw the lawyers, to talk and tempt them, and to create for himself the role of the persecuted."

¶ Ruled that the U.S. has the constitutional right to deport aliens who have been, before or after their entry into the U.S., members of the Communist Party. Wrote Justice Jackson for the majority (in a 6-2 decision): "That aliens may remain vulnerable to expulsion after long residence is a practice that bristles with severity. But it is a weapon of defense and reprisal confirmed by international law as a power inherent in every sovereign state." Dissenting: Black and Douglas.