Open forum, vol. 21, no. 20 (May, 1944)

THE OPEN FORUM

Free Speech : Free Press : Free Assemblage

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty'-John Philpot Curran

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CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT

TO PASS ON FREE SPEEGH CASE

Whether or not a Municipal employee

has the same constitutional right to criticize

his superiors as does a private employee

to protest injustice on the part of his em-

ployer, will be determined by the Supreme

Court of California in the case of Zerah La

Prade against the Department of Water

and Power of the city of Los Angeles.

This was assured last week when the

California Supreme Court granted a hear-

ing, sought by the Department of Water

and Power, from a decision against the

city handed down both by Judge Henry

M. Willis, of the Los Angeles Superior

Court, and by the District Court of Appeal

at Los Angeles.

Judge Willis had ruled that a Municipal

employee's right to freedom of speech was

the same as that of a private employee,

and that offended City Commissioners had

violated constitutional right and the pro-

visions of the Municipal Civil Service Sys-

tem in discharging an employee for such

exercise of speech.

La Prade, an engineer employed by the

Department of Water and Power, was the

President of the Municipal Civil Service

Association, an independent labor union

consisting of Department of Water and

Power employees; the Union paper carried

articles criticizing the Department of Wa-

ter and Power Commissioners.

The Southern California Branch of the

A.C.L.U. appeared in the case, supporting

La Prade both in the Superior Court and in

the District Court of Appeals. A similar

appearance and brief will be filed in the

California Supreme Court.

HOW FARE THE C.O's and J. W's?

News in Los Angeles concerning con-

scientious objector and Jehovah's Witnesses

cases in the courts includes the following:

In the case of Harlan H. O. Wright, a

religious conscientious objector denied a

IV-E classification and the opportunity to

go to a CO camp because of his employ-

ment in a defense plant by his local Draft

Board, but granted probation by Federal

Judge Ralph E. Jenney, a move to cancel

the probation and to send Wright to the

penitentiary failed. Judge Jenney dismiss-

ed an application to cancel the probation

on the ground that no showing had been

made by the government warranting such

cancellation. Wright was permitted to re-

main on probation and to continue to work

in a defense plant.

In the case of Frank Bridges, a Jehovah's

Witness, Federal Judge Ben Harrison re-

fused to send him to the penitentiary upon

a showing that the record of his local draft

board disclosed that the board was prej-

udiced against him. Bridges' local board,

on the back of his questionnaire, had made

the notation that he "was not fit to be an

American citizen." Judge Harrison express-

ed the view that from his draft board

records it appeared that the board was ar-

bitrary, and that Bridges should have an

(Continued on Page 2, Col. 3)

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, MAY 13;0x00B01944

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No. 20

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MITSUYE ENDO CASE REFERRED TO

U. S. SUPREME COURT

Four Questions Concerning Forced Detention of Japanese in W.R.A. Centers Put

to High Court

Passing on to the Supreme Court of the

United States the opportunity and respon-

sibility for a decision upon the constitu-

tionality of forced detention in relocation

centers of American citizens of Japanese

ancestry, the United States Circuit Court

of Appeals at San Francisco in April cer-

tified to the highest Court of the land the

case of Mitsuye Endo.

The Federal Court of Appeals requested

instructions from the Supreme Court upon

the following questions:

"(1) Has the War Relocation Authority

the power to hold in its custody in aWar Re-

Iccation Center an American citizen, now

more than 20 months after such citizen has

been evacuated from her residence in

Calif., without any right in such citizen

to seek a release from such custody in a

hearing by the Authority with the substan-

tial elements of due process for the deter-

mination of facts warranting her further

detention, because such citizen is of Jap-

anese ancestry?

(2) If under the (W.R.A.) regulations,

the War Relocation Authority has deter-

mined that a United States citizen of Jap-

anese descent is loyal to the United States

and such determination be relevant, may

the Authority continue to confine such cit-

izen in a Relocation Center until such cit-

izen establishes to the satisfaction of the

Director that there is no reasonable cause to

believe that she will not have employment

or other means of support or that she cannot

otherwise successfully maintain residence

at the proposed destination of the citizen

when she is released from such confine-

ment?

""(8) If under the (W.R.A.) regulations,

the War Relocation Authority has deter-

mined the loyalty to the United States of

a citizen confined in a War Relocation

Center and such a determination be rele-

vant, may such Authority continue such

confinement until the Authority determine

whether or not there is no reasonable cause

to believe that she will not have employ-

ment or other means of support or that she

cannot otherwise successfully maintain res-

idence at the proposed destination, with-

out any hearing in which such issues may

be tendered by the citizen or at which the

citizen may be present in person, or by

counsel, to offer evidence thereon or at

which must be presented the evidence ad-

verse to her contention or at which she is

confronted with the witnesses adverse to

her contentions?

(4) If such requirements of self-support

and community acceptance may be imposed

upon a loyal American citizen, may such a

citizen be confined in such Center until she

satisfy the Authority, when despite such

satisfaction she must further agree that she

will report to the Authority as required by

such regulations ?

Miss Endo had filed a petition for writ

of habeas corpus in the Federal District

Court at San Francisco urging the illegality

of her detention and seeking release. Judge

Michael Roche denied the petition. An

appeal was taken by her attorney, James

C. Purcell, to the federal higher court. In

the course of the proceedings pending in the

Circuit. Court, the W.R.A. and the Depart-

ment of Justice conceded Miss Endo's

loyalty.

Reviewing the case and the W.R.A.

"leave" regulations, the Circuit Court, in

a certification of the legal issues signed by

six Circuit Court Judges said:

"The case is before us over twenty months

after the regulations and administrative

orders establishing the War Relocation

Centers and the confining therein of A-

merican Citizens of Japanese descent e-

vacuated from the Military Areas of the

Pacific Coast. The (W.R.A.) regulations

controlling the continuance of such con-

finement of such American citizens are not

of a temporary character.

"These regulations may be summarized

as providing for such citizens no release

from the control of the War Relocation

Authority. They provide only for a revo-

cable `indefinite leave' from the confine-

ment in the Relocation Center, conditioned

upon the agreement of the citizen to make

report to the Director of any change of

residence or employment. Such revocable

leave is obtainable and is revocable by an

administrative procedure in which none of

the elements of due process is present.

`Such conditional and revocable leave

may be had only after the citizen has pro-

cured the approval of her application for

a `leave clearance' by the Director, who

instructs the Project Director, who is re-

straining the citizen at the Center, of the

approval or disapproval of the citizen's ap-

plication for such clearance. In the ad-

ministrative proceeding for the procuring

of the approval for leave clearance from

the distant Director, the Director holds no

hearing. The citizen remains imprisoned

at the Center while the Director considers

the secret reports of the Federal Bureau

of Investigation and determines the grant-

ing or denial of the citizen's petition for

leave clearance on such and other reports

of which the citizen has no knowledge,

much less the right to cross-examine persons

stating facts likely to lead to the denial

of the clearance.

"The granted leave clearance states that

its granting does not give the right to leave

the Center. The restrained citizen must

then apply for one of three types of leave of

which the most favorable is the revocable

`indefinite leave' from the confinement of

the Center. This will be granted only after

the Director has determined that the citizen

(Continued on page 2, Col. 1)

ee, SS

THE OPEN FORUM

Published every Saturday at 501 Douglas Building,

257 South Spring Street, Los Angeles 12, California by

Civil Liberties Union. Phone: Mlchigan 9708

Editor

Clinton J. Taft

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Upton Sinclair hate Crane Gartz

A. A. Heist A. L. Wirin

John Packard Edwin Ryland

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Entered as second-class matter Dec. "13,

1924, at the post office of Los Angeles,

California, under the Act of March 8, 1879.

sR 36

LOS ANGELES, CALIF., MAY 20, 1944

Disturbance of the Peace Charge

Argued Before Appeals Court

The right of Jehovah's Witnesses to

offer religious literature to tenants of a

hotel, without permission of the hotel man-

ager, were urged upon the Appellate De-

partment of the Los Angeles Superior

Court last week. The occasion was the ap-

peal of Grace Vaughan and Leon F. Scheer-

er, Jehovah's Witnesses, from a conviction

in the Los Angeles Municipal Court before

Judge Arthur 8S. Guerin of ``disturbing the

peace." Last January the two members of

Jehovah's Witnesses visited the Daily Hotel

in Los Angeles. The hotel manager chal-

lenged their right to approach tenants of

the hotel without the express permission

of the hotel management. Also presented

to the court was the legal point that a hotel

lobby is not a "`public place,' within the

meaning of the California law, which makes

it a crime to create a disturbance in a

public place.

The case was taken under submission by

the three-judge court consisting of pre-

siding Judge Hartley Shaw, W. Turney

Fox, and Clarence L. Kincaid. An early de-

cision is expected.

The Southern California Branch of the

A.C.L.U. has been cooperating in the case.

In the meantime, `disturbance of the

peace" charges against Ella Chamberlin,

Santa Ana Jehovah's Witness, went awry

when a jury divided six to six and refused

to convict Mrs. Chamberlin for ``disturb-

ance of the peace," in connection with

witnessing by Mrs. Chamberlin in an a-

partment house in Santa Ana. This case

was tried on April 27th before Judge Del-

bert Larsh of the Santa Ana City Court,

the defendant being represented by at-

torney J. B. Tietz.

Thereupon the charge against Mrs.

Chamberlin was dismissed.

(Continued from page 1, Col. 3)

has the means for his self-support or em-

ployment for such support and that the

community in which he intends to reside

will accept him. Here, as with the appli-

cation for `leave clearance,' the citizen has

provided for him no hearing nor any of the

essential elements of due process."

The Court then summarized the claims

of Miss Endo thus:

"On behalf of appellant are the conten-

tions that she is entitled to an uncondition-

al release from such confinement in the

present habeas corpus proceeding (a) be-

cause in the absence of any of the rights

of due process in such regulations they

afford her no such remedy as due an

American citizeh and that she may

ignore their requirements, and _ that

any proceeding commenced there-under

has no relation to the right to release

on habeas corpus; (b) because, if the find-

ing of loyalty to the United States in pro-

CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS

ADMITTED TO CITIZENSHIP

Despite the Supreme Court decision de-

nying American citizenship to aliens

conscientiously opposed to bearing arms,

Federal Judge Leavy in the District Court

at Tacoma, Washington, has overruled a

motion of the U.S. Immigration Service

and admitted to citizenship two conscien-

tious objectors attached to the Medical

Corps of the Army. The Immigration Ser-

vice had moved to dismiss the petitions of

the objectors, William Robert Kinlock and

William McKillop, on the ground that the

statutory oath of allegiance implies a will-

ingness to bear arms. Both applicants were

British subjects and members of religious

organizations with tenets prohibiting bear-

ing arms. In answer to a query from the

American Civil Liberties Union, the U.S.

Department of Justice announced it would

net appeal the decision in either case.

Both applicants testified that if the oath

of allegiance implies a willingness to bear,

arms in combat units of the Army, they

could not subscribe to the oath without

mental reservations in view of their relig-

ious convictions. Judge Leavy ruled, how-

ever, that the Selective Service Act would

be "meaningless" if, under it, ``conscien-

tious objectors performing military duty

and wearing the uniform" are denied the

privileges of citizenship.

"It cannot be held," he wrote, that such

applicants ``must have read into the oath

of allegiance administered to them their

willingness to bear arms, which is contrary

to their religious convictions, since it is

only by reason of such convictions that they

find themselves serving in the armed forces

in their present status of non-combatants."

ceedings under such regulations be rele-

vant, she may ignore all the further re-

quirements regarding means of self-sup-

port or supporting employment and com-

munity acceptance, since they cannot be

imposed upon a loyal American citizen

whether or not of Japanese ancestry; (c)

because, assuming such latter requirements

may be imposed upon such a loyal Ameri-

can citizen, no hearing of any of the rights

of due process are accorded her for the

establishment of such requirements, and

(d) because in no event can she be kept

in such confinement until she accept such

a revocable indefinite leave from such con-

finement with the agreement to report to

the Authority.''

The Circuit Court gave the following

reasons for certifying the case at this time

directly to the Supreme Court for decision,

stating that it was:

"Because of the summary nature of ap-

pellant's claim for relief from her alleged

wrongful restraint and of the great public

need for the decision of the question of the

right to restrain many thousands of such

citizens in Relocation Centers, now almost

two years since their evacuation from the

Pacific Coast areas."

At long last the constitutionality of the

detention, without hearing, in the United

States of a minority racial group, most of

whom are American citizens whose loyalty

is unchallenged, will be finally determined

by the Supreme Court.

Hearing of the Endo case, as well as the

Korematsu case, has been postponed by the

Supreme Court to next October, after the

Court has had its summer vacation. The

Korematsu case involves the constitution-

ality of the evacuation orders.

Accordingly, all of the major issues in

connection with the exclusion and deten-

tion of American citizens of Japanese an-

cestry will be decided by the Supreme Court

next fall.

DEFENSE SECRETARY TO VISIT

LOS ANGELES

George Novack, national secretary of the

Civil Rights Defense Committee, now tour-

ing the country is in Los Angeles from May

8 to 2 7th,

Mr. Novack's visit will be in the interest

of the national campaign his committee is

conducting to secure a Presidential pardon

for the 18 union and socialist leaders con-

victed in the Minneapolis Labor Case of

violating the Smith Act of 1940. Those

were the first convictions under the Act,

and this case is generally recognized as the

test of the law (which is the first since the

Alien and Sedition Laws of 1798) to make

the mere expression of opinion a federal

crime.

The campaign has the support of the

American Civil Liberties Union, the Work-

ers Defense League, the National Associa-

tion for the Advancement of Colored peo-

ple, the March on Washington Movement,

and the Workmen's Circle, as well as trade

unions and other organizations throughout

the country.

(Continued from page 1, Col. 1)

opportunity to get a court review of such

arbitrary treatment from the Selective

Service agencies.

Accordingly, Judge Harrison imposed

probation, specifying that Bridges report

to a CO camp in the event his local draft

board issues another order upon him so to

do, such reporting to the camp to be solely

for the purpose of securing a court ruling

as to the arbitrariness of the classification

under the recent Billings case; and that in

the meantime he be engaged in `useful

work." Judge Harrison indicated that if

Bridges continued in his present employ-

ment as a grocery clerk he would be suf-

ficiently complying with the requirement.

In the meantime, word comes to us that

the United States Circuit Court of Appeals

has ruled that a Selective Service registrant

is entitled to classification as a conscien-

tious objector because of "humanitarian

considerations," regardless of ``any obli-

gations to a deity or supernatural power."'

The decision reversed the Federal Court

of the Western District of New York State,

which had refused a writ of habeas corpus

to Frederick U. Reel, an apprentice seaman

in the Navy.

The seaman was inducted after a hearing

officer for the Department of Justice up-

held a draft board which had classified

Seaman Reel I-A.

Holding that Seaman Reel should have

been classified as a conscientious objector,

the Circuit Court sent the case back to the

lower court with instructions "to proceed

in conformity with this opinion."

It was evident, the Circuit Court said,

that the hearing officer based his decision,

upholding the I-A classification, on the

ground that Seaman Reel was not a con-

scientious objector ``because his opposition

to war was based on humanitarian con-

siderations and not on any obligations to

a deity or supernatural power."'

The Civil Rights Defense Committee

cordially invites you to- help welcome

its National Secretary

GEORGE NOVACK

ata

BUFFET SUPPER

Saturday Evening, May 13th, 1944

8:00 o'clock

Lodge Hall, 986 W. Washington Blvd.

Speakers - Dancing

$1.65 per plate

Advance Reservations Requested

247% Douglas Bldge., L.A. 12