Opinion

Louis Weinstock v. Subversive Activities Control Board

  • 331 F.2d 75
  • 118 U.S. App. D.C. 1
  • 1963 U.S. App. LEXIS 3429
Court
Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
Filed
Dec 17, 1963
Status
Published
Author
Bazelon
On the bench
Prettyman, Bazelon, Pretty-Man, Danaher
Cited by
1 cases
Authority
More cited than 24.7%

The opinion

BAZELON, Chief Judge

(concurring).

Communist Party of United States v. Subversive Activities Control Board, 367 U.S. 1 , 81 S.Ct. 1357 , 6 L.Ed.2d 625 (1961), sustained the statutory requirements for registration of Communist-action organizations but did not deal with the relationship between a Communist-action organization and a Communist-front organization. Two questions now arise. (1) Is a front closely enough related to the world Communist movement to justify restricting first amendment rights because of the Communist Party’s support of the world Communist movement? (2) Must the question whether the Party is a Communist-action organization be re-litigated in a front case?

I do not contend that if the statute is properly construed its application to a front violates the first amendment. See my dissenting opinion in American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born v. Subversive Activities Control Board, 117 U.S.App.D.C. -, 331 F.2d 53 (1963), decided today. And I believe that due process does not demand re-litigation of the Party’s status in the present case because (a) the organization here affected by the Party’s status has been found to be substantially controlled by the Party, (b) the Party argued the question of its status in a 14-month 14,000-page hearing and the Supreme Court affirmed the Board’s finding, and (c) there is no indication that the organization here affected by the Party’s status could produce evidence which would throw additional light on that matter. 1 The petitioner argues no other question. I therefore vote to affirm.

. We need not consider whether the Party’s status would have to be litigated in a proceeding to impose upon the petitioner or its members the civil or criminal sanctions of the Act.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

A word about cookies

We need a few to keep you signed in and the library working. The rest help us see which pages people use and where they get stuck. They stay off unless you say yes.