Liberty v. License

THE SUPREME COURT

One of the shrillest charges of professional calamity howlers is that civil liberties are in danger in the U.S. Actually, no issue is more cherished by Americans--or more zealously guarded by the courts--than the rights of citizens under the law. But the line between liberty and license is often a hairbreadth.

Last week the Supreme Court ruled on three cases, all involving the right of free speech. "The issues in these cases," wrote Justice Felix Frankfurter, "concern living law in some of its most delicate aspects." The three cases:

P:EURJ In 1949, Havre de Grace, Md. denied the voluble Jehovah's Witnesses a permit to hold meetings in the public park. When they tried to hold meetings anyhow, two of them were arrested, charged with disorderly conduct, and fined. Ruled the Supreme Court (unanimously): conviction reversed.*The right of free speech "has a firmer foundation than the whims or personal opinions of a local governing body." P:In 1946, New York City revoked Baptist Minister Carl Jacob Kunz's permit to preach at street meetings because of his constant, explosive rantings. (He called the Pope the "anti-Christ," Jews "Christ-killers.") When Kunz continued to rant, the city pinched him, in 1948, for preaching without a permit, and fined him $10. Ruled the Supreme Court (8 to 1): conviction reversed; such ordinances as New York City's are invalid because they give the police commissioner power to control "the right of citizens to speak on religious matters." P:In 1949, Irving Feiner mounted a soapbox in Syracuse to drum up a crowd for a Young Progressive club meeting, began shrilling such comments as "President Truman is a bum," exhorted Negroes in a crowd of 70 to 80 people to fight for their rights. When a bystander said to a cop, "If you don't get that son of a bitch off I will go over and get him off there myself," the cop arrested Feiner, who was subsequently convicted of disorderly conduct. Ruled the Supreme Court (6 to 3): conviction upheld. Feiner's exercise of freedom of speech was "an incitement to riot."

Wrote Justice Frankfurter, who voted with the majority in each case: "Adjustment of the inevitable conflict between free speech and other interests is a problem as persistent as it is perplexing . . . This Court can only hope to set limits and point the way."

*The Witnesses, who have been involved in 47 cases before the Supreme Court, have won 40 of them.

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