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PAGI 2 G. jjRGtRl. LLLTIN THI. RSDAY, FLDRLARV 21, 1963 Supreme Court Rulings Effecting Public Morality Strikes Down Rhode Island Anti-Smut Commission WASHINGTON (NC)—The Su preme Court has agreed with four paperback book publishers that a state decency commis sion violated the Constitution by sending book and rr agazinedis tributors lists of publications it judged objectionable for youths. The court held (Feb. 18) that by suggesting it might recom mend prosecution of distribu tors v.ho did rot comply with its findings, the Rhode island Commission to L.ncourage Mo rality in Youth was in effect carrying on "a scheme of State censorship effectuated by ex- tra-i sgal sanctions." T11L OPINION laid heavy em phasis on the court's belief that a state, in seeking t . bar ob scene literature, must not in fringe on the rights of consti tutionally protected literature, even though the latter is "of ten separated from obscenity- only by a dim and uncertain line." The opinion also criticized the decency commission's ac tions on the grounds that they intended to restrict literature available to adults as well as youths. The Supreme Court’s opinion was written by j slice William J. Brennan, jr. JUSTICE John M. Harlan dis sented, charging that the de cision failed to take into ac count the need for "accomo dation" between the right of freedom of expression and a state’s legitimate concern over obscenity and juvenile delin quency. Justice Tom Clark concurred xith the result of the decision, but criticized Justice Brennan’s opinion for stirring up a "tem pest in a teapot." He agreed that the Rhode Is land decency commission had used "inept" phrases in its no tices to distributors and said it exhibited "delusions of gran deur." He added, however, that there is no objection to the commission’s publicizing its finding about material it examines and notifying publish ers and distributors. Under stood in this way, he said, the court’s ruling "would have little bearing on the efficacy of Rhode Island’s law." JUSTICE William O. Douglas also wrote a separate concur ring opinion in which he reit erated his often-stated opposi tion to governmental censor ship. 'The effect of the court's rul ing is to reverse a December, 1961, decision of the Rhode Is land Supreme Court which held that the Commission to Encour age Morality in Youth was act ing within its rights in distri buting lists of publications it deemed objectionable. The nine-member commis sion was created by a 1956 resolution of the Rhode Island legislature "to educate the pub lic" concerning the obscenity problem. The commission’s activities were challenged in the courts by four national paperback book publishers—Bantam Books, the Dell Publishing Company, Poc ket Books and the New Ameri can Library of World Litera ture—who carried their case to the Supreme Court. PRINCIPAL target of the pub lishers’ ire was the commis sion’s practice of notifyingdis- tributors in writing that cer tain books or magazines distri buted by them had been review ed and judged objectionable for sale to young people under the age of 18. The major Rhode Island wholesale magazine and paper back book distributors had re ceived 35 such notices by the time legal action was begun. In January, 1960, the com mission said it had listed a to tal of 108 magazines and pa perback books up to then. Justice Brennan said a typi cal commission notice remind ed the distributor of the com mission’s "duty to recommend to the Attorney General prose cution of purveyors of obsceni ty." COPIES of the lists of "ob jectionable" publications were also circulated to local police departments, and a police offi cer usually visited the distribu tor to learn what action he had taken. It was the distributor’s prac tice to withdraw from circula tion and return to the publish ers books and magazines which the commission notified him it had judged objectionable. Holding the commission’s ac tions unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment, Justice Bren nan stressed that this amend ment "requires that regulation by the states of obscenity con form to procedures that will ensure against the curtailment of constitutionally protected ex pression, which is often sepa rated from obscenity only by a dim and uncertain line." HE SAID the Supreme Court insists "that regulations of ob scenity scrupulously embody the most rigorous procedural safeguards." Justice Brennan rejected as "untenable" the argument that these principles do not apply to the actions of the Rhode Island commission because it does not actually "regulate" obscenity "but simply exhorts booksell ers and advises them of their legal rights. "Though the commission is limited to informal sanctions... the record amply demonstrates that the commission deliberate ly set about to achieve the sup pression of publications deem ed ’objectionable’ and succeed ed in its aim," he said. AS FOR the argument that the distributor was free to ig nore the commission's notices, he commented that "people do not lightly disregard public of ficers' thinly veiled threats to institute criminal proceedings against them if they do not come around." "Herein lies the vice of the system," he said. "The com mission’s operation is a form of effective state regulation su perimposed upon the state’s criminal regulation of obsceni ty and making such regulation largely unnecessary. In thus obviating the need to employ criminal sanctions, the state has at the same time elimi nated the safeguards of the criminal process." Justice Brennan also criti cized the commission's acti vities on the grounds that "al though the commission’s sup posed concern is limited to youthful readers, the ’coope ration* it seeks from distri butors invariably entails the For All Your Banking Needs COBB EXCHANGE BANK 1311 ROSWELL ST. MARIETTA, GEORGIA PHONE 428-3351 GRIATIK ATLANTA jjg. TRI-CITY FEDERAL SAVINGS & LOAN ASSd ... WHERE SAVINGS PAY" 4/2% HER ANNUM CURRENT RATE Mfr* CINTtAl AVI m MAPIV.IUf G* LISTED STOCKS PRIMARY MARKETS IN APPROXIMATELY 100 UNLISTED STOCKS CORPORATE BONDS — UNDERWRITINGS TAX-FREE MUNICIPAL BONDS PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS J. C. Bradford S> Co. Members of the New York Stock Exchange ft American Exchange Thomas H. Stafford, Resident Manager Joseph G. Smith. Account Executive SUITE 73S. BANK OF GEORGIA BUILDING PHONE JAckson 2-6834 ATLANTA. GA. 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Refuses To Review Norfolk Obscenity Conviction complete suppression of the listed publications: adult read ers are equally deprived of the opportunity to purchase the publications in the state.” HE SAID the court did not mean to suggest "that private consultation between law en forcement officers and distri butors prior to the institution of a judicial proceeding can never be constitutionally per missible.” But in this case, he said, the commission’s actions were un constitutional because their ef fect was "not to advise but to suppress." Justice Harlan in his dissent said the court’s opinion failed to give "due consideration" to "the central issue in this case —the accommodation that must be made between Rhode Inland concern with the problem of juvenile delinquency and the right of freedom of expres sion assured by the 14th Amend ment". HE SAID none of the objec- NATIONAL ANTHEM WASHINGTON (NC)—The U. S. Supreme Court has dismis sed an appeal by Jehovah’s Wit nesses whose children were ex- PROTESTANT SPLIT WASHINGTON (NC)—The Su preme Court has refused to consider a complex dispute among several Protestant church groups over the "con trol, functions, benefit and funds" of several national church agencies. Key factor in the case is the merger carried out in recent years between certain Congre gational church bodies and the Evangelical and Reformed Church, to form the new Unit ed Church of Christ. ON HIS WAY TO OVER- see the opening of his order’s first South American mission is Father Bonaventure Koelzer, S.A., Father General of the Franciscan Friars of the Aton ement, known also as the Gray- moor Friars. tions to the commission’s ac tivities posed by the court "is of overriding weight in the con test of what is obviously not an effort by the state to obstruct free expression but an attempt to cope with a most baffling so cial problem." "The states should have a wide range of choice in dealing with such problems...and this court should not interfere with state legislative judgements on them except upon the clearest showing of unconstitutionality," Justice Harlan said. He agreed that the phrasing of some of the commission’s letters and reports deserves "serious criticism" forcarry- ing "an air of authority" that body does not possess. "But these are things which could surely be cured by a word to the wise," he continued. "They furnish no occasion for today’s opaque pronouncements which leaves the commission in the dark as to the permissible constitutional scope of its future activities." pelled from public school for refusing to take part in singing the National Anthem. Appellants in the case dis missed (Feb. 18) by the Su preme Court were four Con gregational churches and a number of individual churc.i members who have refused to go along with the merger. THEY SOUGHT a declaratory judgment to settle who will con trol a number of national Con gregational agencies and their funds, estimated at more than $100 million. The U. S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled last August 1 against the dis sident Congregationalists. The effect of the Supreme Court’s action is to let this decision stand. IN THEIR appeal to the Su preme Court, the dissident Con gregationalists maintained that no single agency of their church has the authority to speak for all Congregational groups or to dispose of the control and funds of their cooperatively maintained national agencies in such fields as missions, pen sions, publishing, education and church building. They also said the Congre gational - Evangelical merger had resulted in "a widespread •schism’ ” among Congrega tional churebel. WASHINGTON (NC)—The U. S. Supreme Court has refused to review the conviction of a Norfolk, Va., merchant for knowingly possessing obscene literature. At the same time, the court has been asked to reverse the obscenity conviction of a Los Angeles bookseller for selling the controversial noveP’Tropic of Cancer." THE COURT did not comment on its action (Feb. 18) in dis mission an appeal by Arthur Goldstein, operator of a Norfolk store selling magazines, soft drinks and candy. Goldstein was tried before a a jury last April 5 in Norfolk Corporation Court. He was found guilty of possessing ob scene literature an# was fined $500. His appeal was rejected October 4 by the Virginia Su preme Court. Among the publications invol ved in his case were issues of two nudist magazines and a magazine published in Denmark and devoted to "physical and physical Ideas." Goldstein argued they were not obscene. IN THE "Tropic of Cancer" case, Los Angeles bookseller Bradley Reed Smith is seeking a reversal of his obscenity con viction for selling the contro versial novel by Henry Miller. Following a jury trial, he was placed on probation for a year, the first 30 days of the proba tionary term to be served in the city jail. His conviction was up held last October 24 by the Appellate Department of the Su perior Court for Los Angeles County. It is that ruling which he Is asking the Supreme Court to review. In his appeal to the high court, Smith maintains that the sale of "Tropic of Cancer" is "pro tected against criminal punish ment by the guarantees of free expression afforded by the First and Fourteenth Amendments." He argues that the novel is not legally obscene and says it "is manifestly a serious work The court did not comment on its action (Feb. 18) In dis mission the appeal by Mr. and Mrs. George W. Sheldon and Mr. and Mrs. Merle Wallace Wingo. THE SHELDONS and Wingos raised the issue of religious liberty in their appeal, noting that the religious belief of Je hovah’s Witnesses do not per mit them to take part in sing ing the National Anthem, which they consider "an act of reli gious worship". Their sons — Daniel Mark Sheldon, 12, Merle William Wingo, 14, and Jere Bruce Win- go, 13 — were expelled from an Arizona public school when they refused to stand during the anthem at a school music as sembly on September 29, 1961. The two couples filed a com plaint last February 19 in the U.S. District Court for the Dis trict of Arizona, seeking red ress for the alleged "depri vation of their rights of free dom and religion and con science." THEY ASKED the District Court to call a three-judge court to hear the case. Such a court was ordered impaneled last April, but the District Court later disimpaneled it on the grounds that the case was not the kind which calls for it. Part of the parents’ appeal to the Supreme Court was taken up with the issue of whether or not the case should be consid ered by a special three-judge court. However, they also raised the religious Issue. They said they had been deprived of "free dom of worship and religion’’ contrary to the Firat and Four teenth Amendmanta to the Fed eral Constitution. of literature, expresses ideas of social importance, and oc- AND FEE REFUNDS WASHINGTON, (NC) —Eight major film distributing com panies have appealed to the Su preme Court in an effort to re cover $4.6 million in license fees paid to a Pennsylvania film censorship board between 1915 and 1953. The Pennsylvania movie cen sorship act was ruled unconsti tutional by the state Supreme Court in 1956, as a violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The film distributing com panies sought refunds of license fees they had paid under the act to the state Board of Censors. The state Board of Finance and Revenue granted refunds for fees paid between 1953 and 1959, when the companies made their petitions for refunds, but re fused to refund the fees paid between 1915 and 1953. THE BOARD took this stand on the grounds that the state fiscal code places a five-year limitation on the refund of li cense fees paid under an act subsequently held to be uncon stitutional. The film distributors took their case to the State Supreme Court, which last November 13 WASHINGTON (NC)—The Su preme Court has granted per mission to two Jewish organiza tions to file an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in connection with two cases in volving the issue of religion in public schools. Permission to file the brief was granted by the court (Feb. 18) to the Synagogue Council of America and the National Com munity Relations Advisory Council, a coordinating body of various national and local Jew ish groups involved in commu nity relations work. THE TWO cases in connec tion with which their brief will REFUSED SERVICE WASHINGTON, (NC) —The Supreme Court has been asked to review the conviction for vio lation of the Universal Mili tary Training and Service Act of a man who describes himself as a minister of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The petitioner, Truman Eu gene Willard of Youngstown, Ohio, was sentenced to two years in jail by a district court for refusing to perform civilian work as ordered by his local draft board. HIS CONVICTION was upheld January 16 by the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Cir cuit. It is this ruling which Williard is asking the high court to review. Willard, 25, was given a 1-A selective service classification in January, 1959. Upon appeal, the board denied him complete exemption as a clergyman and instead granted him 1-0classi fication, making him liable to the performance of civilian work In lieu of Induction Into the armed forces. The authorities recommend ed that Willard be assigned to do hospital work. He refused, cupies an important position in 20th century literature." upheld the finance and revenue board. The state high court said the film distributors had at first sought the refund of fees paid only as far back as 1953. Only later, after a court decision in another case, did they seek the fees for the 1915-1953, alleg ing then for the first time that these fees had been paid "un der duress and compulsion." THE PENNSYLVANIA court held that the license fees in question "were not paid under duress or compulsion" and that the five-year statutory period for recovery of money volun tarily but mistakenly paid to the state "was reasonable and violated none of appellants’ con stitutional rights." The eight film distributing companies are Universal Film Exchanges, Allied Artists Dis tributing Corporation, RKO General, Paramount Film Dis tributing Corporation, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, United Artists Corporation, Co lumbia Pictures Corporation and Loew’s, Inc. Their claims for the period 1915-1953 total $4,637,258.14. be filed center on Bible read ing in Pennsylvania public schools and Bible reading and recitation of the Lord’s Prayer in Maryland public schools. The Supreme Court has an nounced that it will hear oral arguments in the two cases dur ing the week of February 25. Its decision, expected before next June, will probably help clarify the court’s attitude to ward religion in public schools, an issue which has received national attention since the court last June 25 ruled against a prayer prescribed by the New York Board of Regents for re citation in New York public schools. and legal action culminating in his conviction then began. Willard argues that his work with the Jehovah’s Witnesses qualifies him for a minister’s exemption from military ser vice or civilian work in lieu of military service. DR. LENA Edwards, a Nagro woman doctor who has a son in the priesthood, will receive an alumna achievement award from Howard Univesity, Wash ington, for har work in bahalf of migrant workers in Texas. Witnesses Appeal Turned Down Court Refuses Plea Of Congregations Film Distributors Appeal Censorship RELIGION IN SCHOOLS Jewish Groups Get ‘Friend’ Permission Draftee Violation For Consideration