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ri... . 0-19 (Rev. 7-18-58) ) "Warren Court Greatest’ . | O“The Warren court is the greatest . U Supreme Court of our generation. ... - ever before has this nation needed ; onal in its legislative and executive branch- es the enlightened leadership it has received from the pudiciary. woes doubt if the Bill of Rights would have gotten out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.” These opinions were ex- pressed by Edward Bennett Williams, nationally famous Washington, D. C., criminal lawyer whose clients have included Frank Costello, Jimmy Hof- fa, Joseph McCarthy, and Alde Icardi, | in an address before the Ford Hall | Forum in Boston last Sunday eve- ning, November 30. “Praditionally the Court has been the bastion of the status quo,” Mr. Williams declared. But for the last five years, under Chief Justice War- ren, the Court has been “dynam- ic, visionary, humanitarian, broad- gauged in its approach to the issues presented to it.” Mr. Williams expressed deep regret _ that tha wuling antlauring saorarata Vile LAID LMA E RB Ve Elie OCR LOR ALC schools in Brown v. Board of Educa-. tion, which he termed “a great hu-, . 'manitarian decision,” was being “met ‘with defiance by one-sixth of this na-| _ tion.” He expressed even deeper dis- appointment because the ‘Chief _Executive of this Land took a position : ‘of moral neutralism” on the school ‘ = | integration problem, “There is no — ‘room for neutralism on the greatest | domestic moral issue of our times,” he Mem eee Vasey asserted. = Mr. Williams heralded the Waé- .‘kins decision of the Supreme veut s long needed and long overdu a # ‘Legislative committees need to bp curbed,” he declared, and the only way they can be effectively curbed is by the courts, “The Kefauver com- | mittee ran wild,” Mr. Williams as- serted, as later did the red-hunting committees and the McClellan com- mittee. will ted ongress, Mr. Williams asse ' has tn right to expose for the sake of exposure alone.” A Congressional committee has a right to conduct an inquiry or investigation only if it has | a4-- 200 wR UL an “honest-to-goodness, bona fide in- . tention to legislate,” and to,use—the | h 67 DEC16 1953: 4 ‘w= Edward Bennett Williams ——Gentinued from page ore EEE products of its investigation as an aid to legislation. mL i. TEY 4 2.2 ,- a ang ae | aus ane rv¥atrxins Case AMIrmMed this principle, Mr. Williams stated, but that decision has been “met for. over a year with open and cynical de- fiance” by Congressional committees “who have refused to recognize it,” These committees, “he continued, have a habit of meeting in a closed session. If the testimony given by witnesses at this closed session is of a nature “to excite headlines,” he charged, the witnesses are recalled in open session, where they are again asked the same questions that they have already answered, or refused to answer, for the sole purpose of pub- licly humiliating them. ‘The committees, he continued, also have a habit of calling witnesses in open session after they have been ad- vised that the witnesses will not an- swer, but will instead seek refuge in the 5th Amendment. The apex of a modern Congressional investigation, he declared, seems to be “to call a witness who will testify nothing about a subject concerning which the Com- mittee already has full information.” Mr, Williams decried what he termed the “legislative Iynch,” the process of calling witnesses before an open hearing for the illegitimate purpose of publicly humiliating and castigating them. “It is just as wrong to lynch a guilty man as it is to lvnch an innocent man,” he declared. Even a “good end does not justify an evil means.” Mr. Williams singled out the MPenanth decision for praise. But he Meet UECISIONn 1 Praise, DULL Me deplored the fact that while wire- tapping in the United States is a crime under a federal statute, the FBI. habitually taps wires. Indeed, he charged, it is “standard investiga-. tive procedure” in certain types of cases. This “has sullied the reputa- tion of an otherwise fine organiza- tion.” To the argument that it is neces- sary to tap wires te compete with the modern criminal. Mr. Williams re- | plied, “necessity has been the excuse! for infringement of human rights and | liberties since time immemorial.” It is the “argument of tyrants,” he con- tinued. The significant difference be- tween a flemocracy and a totalitarian state 1s that in a democracy the police A 8 elmont Mohr Nease Parson Van. Tele. Sr6om __ Holloman nd Wash. Post and Times Herald Wash, News Wash. Star N. Y. Herald Tribune N.Y. Journa]-______ American N. Y. Mirror N. Y. Daily News —— N. ¥. Times Daily Worker The Worker New Leader ————_—— Date 12-4-58 NOT RECORDED IWOEC 15 1958