Malloy Out

Pat Malloy, the chunky, round-faced Oklahoman who has put in four months at the Department of Justice as an Assistant Attorney General, announced last week in Washington that he was going to resign, and why.

Last August Pat Malloy blew into Grand Rapids like the prairie cyclone which killed his parents, sister & brothers

34 years ago. On his own invitation he appeared before the American Bar Association, informed its members that if the Government's war against crime was to be successful, constitutional guarantees should be suspended, local police should be Federalized, all legal technicalities which shield criminals should be swept away (TIME, Sept. 11). The A. B. A. lawyers were thrown into a professional panic until Attorney General Homer Stille Cummings arrived, disavowed his subordinate's speech, promised to deal with crime in a sound constitutional manner.

Still smarting over his humiliation at Grand Rapids, Pat Malloy showed reporters a letter signed by William Stanley, Assistant to the Attorney General, saying: "Dear Pat--I have discussed with the Attorney General your suggested discussion on the report of the criminal section of the A. B. A., which we think is all right." The letter was dated Aug. 26, four days before Assistant Attorney General Malloy delivered his controversial speech.

The Grand Rapids episode was only one of "a series of sharp differences" which had culminated in Pat Malloy's breach with his chief. Mr. Malloy said he had recommended prosecution of "a New York financier" for income tax evasion. Mr. Cummings had demurred. When the Attorney General had asked the chief of his criminal division to prosecute a Department of Justice employe for a $2,000 defalcation it was Mr. Malloy's turn to balk. His explanation: "The evidence is not strong and I refuse to use the Government to prosecute a little man while they let a big man go free." As his parting shot before leaving office, Pat Malloy declared: "I challenge Cummings to prosecute the big fellow now."

Comfortably off after 20 years in the oil business, Mr. Malloy plans a European trip with his wife, perhaps private practice in Washington when he returns. Up to last Monday, Attorney General Cummings had let his challenge lie.

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