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O-19 (Rev, 9-7-56} a j Aftermath Q25 In the two years from 1866 to 1868, the reconstruction Congress, miffed by Supreme Court decisions that ran ¢ounter to Punish-the- if South sentiment, temporarily stripped the high court of so much ‘{ of its authority that for a time it | no longer was a coequal branch of the Government. I H That Congress, the same that started impeachment proceedings against President Johnson, reduced the size of the court from nine to seven Justices to assure more ‘favorable decisions. {t also withdrew _ from the court the authority to is- ¢ Ste writs of habeas corpus, Any decision that drew censure from the F* . Tadicals led to widespread demands ; for wholesale impeachment of Supreme Court Justices. The court of that day accepted such political curtailment of. its authority without argument and #'; with Uttle dignity, The Justices in effect agreed to hew the line. Last week the court again was ‘ under heavy fire from Congress and ~ conservatives, though there was little chance that the current attack , Would lead te such indignity as yas | ¢ the case 90 years ago. f F & Southerners have kept up a steady sniping at-the court since Me gis decision outlawing ractal segre- Gation in public schools three years ago, Their forces now have been joined by others atarmed by recent , decisions striking at some basics _ Of conservative thinking. —— ' The dusiness community in ! general is critical of the court’s t ruling. in the Du Paont-aM cass, * whien added ag new, restrictive ‘ strained to follow precedent.” And dimension to anti-trust laws Those Justice Douglas, one of the to whom internal communism is _of the present court, recently still a major threat, fear that the wrote “Stare decisis has. . . court's decision for 14 Communists convicted under the Smith Act and the ruling in the Jencks case re- quiring access to the defendant cY FBI files containing charges against him constitute a body blow at the Nation's security. Thedecigion In case, sharply reatrict- 7 ing the’ authority ‘of co parrasiopel | cdinmrtteees, added fuel to the fire, By the end of thé week, the. ad- ministration had acted swiftly to clarify the issue arising from the Jen decision. Attorney General Brownell came up with a plan for ’ legislation to make available only - “relevant” FBI information to de- fendanta in criminal trials. A Senate Judictarg auhcommities ane SSDS A: We aReaneceee ae SFLRSS RRR Se proved the proposal on Friday, the day after a House Judiciary sub- committee had approved a similar but somewhat more restrictive plan, But congressional action work- ing over the court’s decisions was not expected to diminish the grow- ing criticism of what has become . known as “the Warren court.” Sen- ator Eastland of Mississipp! sug- gested impeachment of the Court, The Attorney General of New Hampshire charged that the Con- stitution was being “tortured out of all rational historical propor- tion.” Much of the press has been critical, And the halls of Congress rang with speeches of castigation, Much of the criticlsm, especially that of lawyers, has been based on the charge that the most contro- versial of the court's recent deci- Bions have blandily ignored the rule of stare decisiz, by which legal de- cisions are made according to the precedent of previous decisions. But failure to rule according to precedent has itself plenty of pre- cedents in Supreme Court history, especially in the past 25 years. The late Justice Holmes minced no words when he wrote: “It is revolt- ing to have no better reason for a Tule of law than thet i was laid down in the time of Henry IV."- Justice Reed, in his majority opin- jon in Smith v. Allwright, noted that “this court has never felt con- | acheedg American constitutional ‘law. ; Ee. LI-ADE, A "NGF RECORDED i 44 JuL 1° 1957) 3 ee " —— a eines, Wash. Post and Trotter Nease Times Herald Wash. News 2. aw” i= Wash. Star N. Y. Herald Tribune N, Y. Journal- American N. Y. Mirror N. Y. Daily News N.Y. Times Daily Worker The Worker New Leader A yg PS ye ny Date —JUN-20 1957 _ tte