The Law: Other Decisions: Union Fines & Line-Ups

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Among the 13 decisions rendered by the court last week, four others were also worthy of note. By thin 5-4 majorities in all cases save one, the court:

> Upheld the conviction of Martin Luther King and others for marching in Birmingham in 1963 in defiance of a local court order (see THE NATION).

> Upheld the right of a union to collect union-imposed fines from members who ignore a majority strike vote and cross the picket line. In dissenting, Justice Black noted that the National Labor Relations Act makes it an unfair labor practice for a union to "restrain or coerce" employees from such acts. Black expressed mystification as to why fines did not constitute such coercion.

— Ruled by a 6-3 vote that an indicted suspect cannot properly be made to stand in a police line-up without his attorney present. The suspect may not, however, refuse police demands that he speak to enable a witness to identify him. In a related decision, the court found that a suspect may not decline to provide a handwriting sample even if his attorney is not present.