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—. = = = , | , 4 ha! tople under taulcs ai @ connective reasonin ‘whereby the precise questions asked relate to it." In its other 6-to-€ decision last , Week the court upheld the con-. ‘ tempt conviction of Dr, Willard : Uphaus, executive director of the New Hampshire World Fellowship Center He refused to give New Hampshire's Attorney General in- formation about the New Hamp- shire World Fellowship Center, which identifies itself as a ‘pacifist organization. The Supreme Court had ruled in the Nelson case that the Smith Act under which United States Communist leaders have been con- victed for advocating violent over- throw of the Government pre- empted this fleld from State law. ' It threw out the conviction of Steve Nelson, a Pennsylvania Communist Party leader, under the Pennsylvania Sedition Act, The decision was widely inter- preted as “striking down” the sedition laws of 41 other States. _ im upholding the right of New Hampshire to question Dr. Up- haus, the Supreme Cowt made it clear that the Nelson decision had been much less far-reaching. “All the (Nelson) opinion pro- scribed was a race between Fed- eral and State prosecutors to the courthouse door,” said Justice Clark, delivering the majority opinion. It did not, he said, ‘strip the States of the right to protect themselves." Sabotage Protection Had the Supreme Court re- treated from its highly contro- versial position in the Nelson case? There was no evidence that it had. In a widely overlooked senyence in its Nelson ruling, 4 cat had emphasized ne pis desision did not “Umit the fight a State to protect itself At any time against sabotage fr at- tempted violence of all kinds.” The immediate consequence of the Barenblatt and Uphaus de- cisions was to diminish the pras- pect that Congress wiil enact legislation at this session to “re- verse” the Supreme Court on the Nelson case and cther contro- versial security rulings. While there remains strong support for such hills, particularly in the House, the two rulings unques- tionably eased congressional con- cern over the direction the high court has taken in the enti-sub- versive field. Last week's decisions also eased fears that the court had fallen under the domination of “liberals” on the security issue and its vital pconetitutional ramifications, Chief a a Justice Warren and Justices Black and Douglas make wp the hard core of the liberals. They are jicined on almost ali cases involy- ing individual rights by Justice . . aAndem hel doy a inajority win over at least ane other mem- ber of the court. The most-fre- &, : quent “swing man” is Justice Har- » lan, who Jolned the liberals the Previous week to make a 5-to-¢ majority in the Vitarelli case. But Justice Harlan's firmly stated _ conelusions In the Barenblatt case would seem to put him past the point of no return on the broader issue of congressional investiga- tions. Indeed it fs hard to see how ‘any of the four Justices whe sided with him could reconcile their views with those of the minority in cases involving the same basic ', issues or the same fundamental eoncept of the First Amendment. | Liberals Lose ‘The liberals have lest two other. Important constitutional cases in the current session, the 5-to-4 clsion that health inspectors f ejiter 4 privaté home withou} a arrant, Amendment, and the 6-to-3 deci- sion that a man may be prose- cuted by Federal and State courts for the same offense, despite the double jeopardy provisions of the Fifth Amendment. In all these cases hinging on in- terpretation of constituttonal safe- guards of individual-rights Justice Stewart, who joined the court at the start of the present session, has voted with the majority and * JUSTICE HARLAN Spoke for mafority. be against the “liberal” bloc. So has Justice Whittake., who filled the last previous facancy on the 4 bench in 1957, : Thus President Eisenhower has . Succeeded by judicious screening of his -last’ two appointees in ‘maintaining the delicate balance fon t the court that was threatened mew. mm... his earlier selections. Peis Ge \ ise : appointees UW cover Pa i etd involving the Foukth re op ae eg ihetull pence ef the congeitublans? controversy, from Earl Warren, on the left, to Potter Stewart, who it t appears will take his position : somewhat to the right of Justice : Whittaker, , One statistical fact still dis- “turbs court critics — the appoint- ment, or conversion, of one more “liberal” would create a new power bloc that could bring a ange in the present di- rection of the court, «===> a ae