The Long Arm in Long Beach

From the day Bookie Pat Irvine bought a $50 federal gambling tax stamp in Long Beach, Calif., the local police took an abiding interest in him. They had a key to his house made, installed a microphone and other eavesdropping equipment, put fluorescent powder on his papers (for fingerprints) and recorded his telephone conversations. After listening and looking for a month, the police charged Irvine with bookmaking. He was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison; he appealed.

This week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the case. To a man, the nine Justices were appalled by the length of the law's arm in Long Beach. Chief Justice Earl Warren and Associate Justice Robert Jackson thought the whole record of the case should be sent to the Department of Justice, to determine whether the police had violated Irvine's civil rights. Wrote Associate Justice Felix Frankfurter, with Associate Justice Harold Burton agreeing: "We have here . . . powerful and offensive control over Irvine's life . . . The police devised means to hear every word that was said in the Irvine household for more than a month . . . A sturdy, self-respecting democratic community should not put up with lawless police and prosecutors."

But in spite of the objections to the police methods, the Supreme Court (splitting 5-4) upheld the conviction of Irvine. Written by Justice Jackson (Warren, Reed, Minton and Clark concurring), the majority opinion 1) held that the federal gambling tax stamp is not a license to violate state law, and 2) reaffirmed the Court's previous ruling that the Federal Constitution does not forbid the use in state courts of illegally seized evidence.

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