Supreme Court Petitioned to Re-hear Decision in “group Libel” Case

The American Civil Liberties Union petitioned the United States Supreme Court today to re-hear its decision in a “group libel” case on grounds that one aspect of the court’s decision created “momentous implications,” was based on a point not argued fully, and had in fact virtually over-ruled its prior rulings in at least four major cases.

The present case concerned Joseph Beauharnais, convicted in Chicago of violating the group libel law because of anti-minority statements he made. The A.C.L.U., although disassociating itself from Beaharnais’ views, took the case to the Supreme Court, contending that the law was unconstitutionally vague and moreover that it violated the defendant’s right of free speech since he was convicted without a finding that a clear and present danger existed.

The court upheld the Libel Law by a 5-4 decision on April 28, 1952. The section of the majority opinion which A.C.L.U. challenged in its petition for a re-hearing declared that utterances libeling groups are not within the area of constitutionally protected speech. This contention, the petition pointed out, “was not pressed on the court in briefs or in oral argument.”

“The question thus decided without argument is a monumental one,” the Union’s petition for re-hearing said. “This decision sustains the constitutionally of all state criminal libel laws, individual and group, in the absence of a clear and present danger–all this without a hearing having been had on this issue, and without any prior holding by the court to this effect.”