vol. 35, no. 12

American

Civil Liberties

Union

Volume XXXV

No. 12

SAN FRANCISCO, DECEMBER, 1970

U. S. Supreme Court Issue

Seek Rig

ht To

Council at Draft

Board Hearings

Briefs have now been filed in the case of United States v.

Thomas Weller and the matter is tentatively scheduled for

argument before the United States Supreme Court in

January.

Weller, is a joint National ACLU-ACLUNC case challeng-

_ ing the legality of prohibiting Se-

lective Service registrants from

being accompanied by counsel at

personal appearances before their

draft board. Weller had applied

for conscientious objector status,

asked for a personal appearance

before the Board and requested

that he be permitted to bring his

counsel to the hearnig. The Board

denied his request to be accom-

panied by counsel, citing a Se-

lective Service regulation which

prohibits ``representation'" by

counsel and then denied Weller

conscientious objector status.

Prosecution

When Weller was prosecuted in

San Francisco for refusing to sub-

mit to induction his attorney,

Peter Franck of Berkeley, inter-

posed as a bar to the prosecution

the Board's denial of Weller's re-

quest to be accompanied by coun-

-sel. Franck contended that the

regulation prohibiting counsel was

"unauthorized by Congress'' and

that, additionally, the hearing af-

forded Weller, since counsel was

excluded, violated due process of

iaw.

Favorable Lower Court Decision

Federal District Judge Robert

Peckham concurred with Franck's

contention that the Selective Serv-

ice regulation had not been au-

thorized by Congress and barred

the prosecution. It should not be

assumed, Judge Peckham held,

that Congress, in granting sweep-

ing powers to local draft boards,

intended to give them the power

to exclude attorneys from fact-

finding hearings. Since there is no

explicit Congressional authoriza-

tion"for exclusion of counsel, the

`regulation, he held, was not con-

sistent with the laws of the

United States, hence ``unauthor-

ized.'' The government took a di-

rect appeal to the United States

Supreme Court.

Due Process

Weller's case before the highest

court will be presented by Marvin

M. Karpatkin of New York, Gen-

eral Counsel of the National

ACLU. Appearing with Karpatkin

on the brief are Franck, Na-

tional Legal Director Melvin Wulf,

and ACLUNC staff attorneys Paul

Halvonik and Charles Marson.

The 100-page brief contends that

excluding counsel from draft

board hearings violates both the

Fifth Amendment right to due

process of law and the Sixth

Amendment right to counsel. ~

Government's Argument

The government contends that

counsel at draft board hearings

is "`unncessary'' and would un-

duly hamper the process of con-

scription. In answer to that con-

tention the ACLU brief notes:

"We respectfully submit that

the government is defending

a totally baseless myth which

was created by the Selective

Service System for its own

bureaucratic convenience. As

we have shown above, in all

material respects Selective

Service local boards make de-

cisions affecting personal and

property rights no differently

from any other administrative

agency. Yet, because of the

sedulous propagation of Se-

lective Service System alone,

of dozens, even hundreds, of

federal administrative agen-

cies, appears to be the only

administrative agency whose

regulations presume explicit-

ly to prohibit the appearance

of counsel. [There are] 34

federal administrative agen-

cies where the right to coun-

sel is guaranteed by statute

and / or regulations. More-

over, appellee's counsel re-

spectfully advise the court

that an exhaustive stuuy has

been made of the various fed-

eral agencies and there does

not appear to be a single in-

stance other than Selective

Service, where the right to

counsel is expressly pro-

hibited."

The brief goes on to point out

that the presence of counsel is

essential to due process of law

in administrative hearings and

that the Supreme Court has so

held in cases involving security

_ clearances and the withdrawal of

welfare benefits.

Denial of Counsel

The contention that the denial

of counsel is also a violation of

the Sixth Amendment is premised

on the theory that, at least where

conscientious objectors are in--

volved, the local board hearing is

the beginning of a criminal prose-

cution. If the conscientious ob-

jector is denied draft exemption

he has no choice, because of his

conscience, but to refuse to sub-

mit to induction and thus be

prosecuted for a felony. But at

his trial he cannot defend himself

on the theory that he is a genuine

conscientious objector because, as

long as there is any "basis in

fact'? for the local board's deci-

sion, the denial of exemption is

beyond court review. In retro-

spect, then, it is apparent that the

local board hearing was a "`criti-

cal stage'' of the criminal pro-

ceedings where denial of the right

to counsel seriously prejudiced

the defendant's ability to defend

Comments .........

Membership

To: Board of Directors ACLUNC

CII am in favor of a financial merger with National.

CII am opposed to a financial merger with National,

CII have no opinion on a financial merger with National.

himself.

Poll

The Board also welcomes your letters on this subject.

-Aclune Attacks

Anti-Picketing

Law In Capitol

The legal battle over soon-to-

be-former Assemblyman Don

Mulford's 1969 bill making pick-

' eting in the State Capitol illegal

continues in the Third District

Court of Appeal. Mr, Simpson

a well-known elderly gentleman

given to carrying in the Capitol

halls sandwich board signs of-

fensive to the Governor, Mul-

ford, and certain others, is rep-

resented there by Kenneth

Wells, Sacramento's able Public

Defender. Some months ago

Wells attempted to secure from

the Superior Court of Sacra-

mento a Writ of, Prohibition pro-

hibiting the trials of Mr, Simp-

son on many counts of violating

`the anti-picketing statute. The

Writ was refused and Wells has

appealed that refusal to the

Third District Court of Appeal.

ACLUNC has submitted an

`amicus curiae brief on behalf of

Mr, Simpson which argues that

the law, which is simply a flat

ban on "picketing" in the Capi-

tol building, is. unconstitutional-

ly vague in that it does not fair-

ly warn of the prohibited con-

duct, unconstitutionally over-

broad in that it prohibits peace-

ful, nondisruptive, non-obstruc-

tive picketing as well as other

types of picketing the State is

entitled to regulate, and consti-

tues an illegal prior restraint

upon the exercise of First

Amendment rights.

Proposed Financial Merger

Board Asks

Members For

Their Opinions

The branch Board of Directors has voted to ask the mem-

bership for its views on proposed financial and membership

integration with the national office. In the absence of written

arguments from the supporters and opponents of the pro-

posal, this article will attempt to present both sides, with the

warning, however, that the writ-

er is opposed to such a financial

merger. The proposed financial

merger affects all members.

Make your views known to the

Board as soon as possible,

The board is now considering

a committee's recommendation

to enter into a three-year trial

period of financial and member-

ship integration with National

ACLU beginning January, 1972.

At the end of three years the

experience would be reviewed,

the arrangement could be

changed or the parties could re-

turn to the present relationship.

During this period, the branch

would be saved from any loss

by a guaranteed income equal to

that of the current fiscal year

(1970-1971) plus the normal av-

erage increase in membership

income and any costs resulting

from the merger. After three

years the branch will be on its

own, At the present time, Na-

tional raises about $98,000 from

5000 members in northern Cali-

fornia, about 700 of whom also

contribute to the branch. During

the past fiscal year the branch

and its. chapters received about

$146,500 from its 8,000 members.

Gag | on Public Statements

ACLUNC Suit

Supports Rights

Of Policemen

Henry Myers and Donald Knox are black policemen who,

because they wish to wear their hair in an "Afro" fashion,

have been threatened with disciplinary action by Oakland

police chief Charles Gain and other superiors in the depart-

ment. Constantly harassed to get their hair cut pursuant to

a vague "neatness" rule (Knox

once had his hair cut three times

in one week), they gave inter-

views to radio and television re-

porters in which they discussed

the uncomfortable situation of

the Oakland black police officer

and asked for community sup-

port in their struggle to elimi-

nate what they consider an un-

wholesome racial attitude pre-

valent in that police depart-

ment. The hair hassle is, in their

view, but a symptom of a per-

vasive and underlying malaise.

The Oakland Police Department,

they note, has but 36 black of-

ficers in a force of thousands al-

though the population of the

City of Oakland is about 40%

black. The black recruitment

program, they said in their me-

dia interviews, is "farcical."

Chief Gain Displeased

Chief Gain was not pleased by

the statements of Knox and

Myers and instructed them not

to make any public statements

about matters "under considera-

tion" by the Police Department

and that they were not to speak

of the department in a "bad

light." Gain told them that the

views they had voiced were "un-

fair and unfactual" and that he

was considering discipline

against them.

Federal Suit

Myers and Knox brought their

case to ACLUNC and staff coun-

sel Paul Halvonik has filed a

federal suit in their behalf, The

suit asks that various Oakland

Police Department regulations

dealing with public speaking be

declared unconstitutional and

that the threat of discipline for

public statements by the police

officers also be declared uncon-

stitutional as an infringement

of the First Amendment, Addi-

tionally, ACLUNC contends that

the regulation of the. plaintiffs'

hair fashion violates the constitu-

tion because it is an infringe-

ment on the liberties of expres-

sion and privacy, The hair fash-

ion rules are also attacked as a

violation of equal protection of

the law. Halvonik notes: "The

rule was designed to have the

hair of black men Jook like the

hair of white men. If the govern-

ment can prohibit `Afro' haircuts

it can also require black people

to have their hair processed to

look straight. Surely the equal

protection clause prohibits the

insult to the dignity of black peo-

ple perpetuated by requiring

them to adopt hair fashions `ap-

proved' by the dominant white

culture."

Federal District Judge Stanley

Weigel has issued an order re-

quiring Chief Gain to show cause

why his public speaking and hair

fashion regulations should not

be declared unconstitutional.

_Yesponsibility,

Loss of Tax Deductibility

Contributions to the branch

are deductible for income tax

purposes but contributions to

National are NOT deductible.

Northern California is the only

ACLU organization whose mem-

bers enjoy deductibility, A few

years ago National established

the ACLU Foundation which re-

ceives funds only above $300.

and such contributions are tax

deductible, In the event of a fi-

nancial merger a separate cor-

poration would, no doubt be es-

tablished in northern California

to attract tax deductible funds

over $300, which could then be

- used for ACLU educational and

litigation purposes, The smaller

contributors (under $300) would

no longer be able to deduct their

contributions.

How It Began

Financial and membership, in-

tegration had its beginnings in

1951 when the national board

adopted an "experimental pro-

gram." At that time, there were

only 17,000 ACLU members and

the national office had a budget

much smaller than the present

budget of this branch. The origi-

nal plan was directed at seven

affiliates, all of which had more

than 100 members but no offices

and paid staffs, Indeed, at that

time, only four affiliates, includ-

ing Northern CalifGernia, hed

paid staffs, and one of them,

Chicago, which was operating on

a budget of $12,500 and having

financial difficulties, elected to

become part of the new plan. At

that time, too, a national board

committee suggested that "the

best arrangement with San Fran-

cisco, for the predictable future,

would seem to be one of ordi-

narily separate operation."

Sharing Formula

Under the present formula for

sharing income, fund-raising is

done by the national] office which

retains $2.50 per member for

servicing and then gives the af-

filiate 60% of the remainder

and keeps 40% for its operation.

`Branches may apply for what is

called Primary Membership Re-

sponsibility under which they

do the fund-raising in their

areas, retain $2.50 for each mem-

ber as a servicing charge and

then divide the remaining in-

come with National on a 60-40

basis, Presently, ten of the 47 fi-

nancially integrated affiliates

have been permitted Primary

Membership Responsibility, Such

could, of course,

be withdrawn by the national

board.

60% Share Is Really 5334%

In addition, however, an af-

filiate is required to pay 5% of

its membership income to Na-

tional's Crisis Area Fund, and it

is taxed 14% per annum for the

National Conference. Realistic-

ally, then, instead of receiving

60% of membership income, this

branch would receive 53%%,

plus, of course, the $2.50 per

member allowance for assum-

ing Primary Membership Re-

sponsibility, assuming it would

be allowed by the National

board.

Pro Arguments

Here are arguments in favor

of a financia] merger: :

1, On April 20, 1965, Jack

Pemberton, former national ex-

ecutive director, summed up the

arguments in this fashion: "It is

-Continued on Page 3

The second year of Republican

control of the State Legislature

- proved every bit as disorganized

as the first. The Republicans con-

trolled both houses by the slim-

mest of margins (21-19) in the

Senate; 40-39 in the Assembly

after the death of Assemblyman

McGee) and simply did not have

the votes to pass many of the

programs most important to the

Governor. The administration's

welfare "reform" program and

_its property tax relief scheme

both met defeat on the Senate

floor; its wiretapping and eaves-

dropping proposal died in the

Assembly; its preventive deten-

`tion program could not pass the

first Committee hurdle. Other ef-

forts were successful, however

(most notably in the bussing con-

troversy), and so, this legislative

session, like last year, can only

be rated as mixed, with victories

and losses on all sides.

Organizationally the legisla-

ture has quieted down only

slightly. In March Howard Way

of Exeter was ousted as Presi-

dent Pro Tempore of the Senate

by conservative Republican Jack

Shrade, who survived the year

notwithstanding controversy over

his ethical standards. Jess Un-

ruh's resignation as Minority

_floor leader in the Assembly

touched off a scramble among

Democrats that was resolved by

the election of John Miller of

Berkeley to the position. Much

murmuring was hear about still

other changes on both sides of

the aisle but the advent of the

1970 election rendered it all

speculative. The outcome of that

election (unknown as this is writ-

ten) will have vast implication

both for the legislature in gen-

eral and the legislative interests

of the ACLU. :

What follows-is a summary of

action taken on legislation fol-

lowed by the ACLU this year:

Freedom of Speech

The greatest legislative threat

to free speech this year was a

- revival of interest in loyalty

oaths and related matters, All of

the legislation introduced: was

_ killed. The Assembly Criminal

Procedure Committee, stripped

down this year to four Republi-

cans and three Democrats, de-

feated on closely divided votes

legislation to prohibit the em-

ployment in state government of

any person advocating the over-

throw (ete.) of the government,

-and legislation requiring as a con-

dition of state employment the

execution of an oath promising

that the taker would not engage

in the proscribed advocacy. On

the other side, Senator Coombs

(R.-Rialto) introduced a consti-

tutional amendment which, if it

had succeeded, would have ap-

peared on the November ballot.

_ The amendment, known as the

"Angela Davis Amendment,"

once gained the required two-

thirds vote on the Senate floor

but was brought back for recon-

Sideration and, as literally

months passed, could never again

summon the votes. By the time

the newspapers carried the story

of Miss Davis' alleged involve.

ment in the Marin court shoot.

out it was too late in the ses-

sion for the measure to move.

Courthouse Picketing

_ Two identical bills passed both

houses (and were signed) which

prohibit picketing around court.

houses for the purposes of influ-

encing the outcome of cases or

the actions of judges, jurors and

witnesses, or of interfering with

the administration of justice. Al-

though vaguely worded, the bills

are drawn in the exact language

of a recent Supreme Court de-

cision written by the former Su-

preme Court Justice Arthur

Goldberg validating a Louisiana

Statute, so the bills will likely be

insulated from court attack.

Last year's controversy over a

list of narcotics agents published

by the Los Angeles Free Press

produced legislation outlawing

the publication of the addresses

Page 2

ACLU NEWS

NOVEMBER, 1970

or telephone numbers of peace

officers. A.B, 1951, by Assembly-

man Campbell (R.-La Puente),

makes it a misdemeanor to pub-

lish that information maliciously

and with the intent to obstruct

justice or the due administration

of the laws. No less than five

hearings were held on the suffi-

ciency of the specific intent pro-

vision, and the final compromise

version is the product of much

agony on every side. :

Symbolic Speech

Symbolic speech came under

attack in the form of several

bills having to do with flags.

One, A.B, 1260, by Assemblyman

Barnes (R-San Diego), passed

and was signed. It revives the

definition of "flag" in State law

_ to include a picture or represen-

tation of any part or parts of the

American flag. The American

Legion actively supported this

change in order to seek the pro-

secution of those who wear flag-

colored clothes, fly peace flags,

and otherwise use the colors and

designs of the flag in a way not

pleasing to the patriots. After con-

siderable battling the legislature

passed the bill). but opponents,

led by Alan Sieroty of Beverly

Hills, exacted as a price the re-

peal of provisions currently in

state law prohibiting exhibition

of the flag with any markings or

symbols on it. In its new form

the law will prohibit only casting

- contempt upon the flag by pub-

licly mutilating, defacing, defil-

ing, burning or trampling upon

it. The revised statute will un-

doubtedly produce much litiga-

tion.

Enemy Flags

Another bill, to make it a mis-

demeanor to fly an enemy flag

under circumstances likely to

produce a breach of the peace by

a hostile viewer, was killed by

the Criminal Procedure Commit-

tee.

Assemblyman Mulford was

once again unsuccessful in rais-

ing the penalty for incitement to

riot from a misdemeanor to a

felony; and Senator Deukmejian

was unable to persuade the Sen-

`ate Judiciary committee to make

it a misdemeanor to insult a po-

lice officer.

School Integration

Two major measures concern-

ing school integration passed the

Legislature this year, One was

signed by the Governor but is

under attack in the courts; the

other was vetoed.

Readers of this column have

seen installment descriptions of

the progress of legislation by As-

semblyman Floyd Wakefield (R.-

South Gate) to prohibit the "bus-

sing" of children' for the pur-

pose of integration without pa-

rental consent. After several in-

tricate parliamentary maneuvers

his A.B. 551 passed the Assem-

bly. It then pased the Senate

Education Committee and the

Senate floor, each time by a mar-

gin of only one vote. In its final

form, as signed by the Governor,

it prohibits the "`transportation"

"of any student for any reason

without prior written consent of

the parent. The day the `Gover-

nor signed the bill it was attack-

ed in the California Supreme

Court by the San Francisco Uni-

fied School District (supported

by ACLUNC as amicus curiae),

which claims that the bill is

either meaningless (since "trans-

portation" is never compulsory)

or unconstitutional if the bill af-

fects the school assignment pro-

cess. The Court has agreed to

hear the case, and is expected to

rule on it within two or three

months.

Reagan Veto

The other controversy revolved

around S.B. 242, a bill jointly

authored by conservative Senator

John Harmer of Glendale and

Bill Greene, a liberal black As-

semblyman from Watts. The

purpose of the bill was to "de-

centralize" the Los Angeles

School District. ACLU opposed

the bill because it feared that

decentralization would result in

avoidance of the order of the

Los Angeles Superior Court that

the district must integrate. For

varying reasons both the sup-

porters and the opponents of

S.B. 242 came from every posi-

tion on the political spectrum,

and the resulting conflicts con-

sumed more than twenty hours

of public -hearings, Eventually

the authors accepted an amend...

ment drafted by ACLU that

would put on the newly created

decentralized districts the obli-

gation to take every feasible step

to remedy segregation regardless

of its cause, and to use the boun-

daries of the entire District in

determining whether that duty

was fulfilled. As it eventually

passed the Assembly the bill,

which still contained that lan-

guage, provided only for a study -

to be made of the feasibility of

decentralizing the district. Gov-

ernor Reagan vetoed that ver-

sion.

Death Penalty

The 1970 Legislature took two

steps backward in capital punish-

ment. Both bills were by Assem-

blyman W. Craig Biddle (R.-

Riverside). A.B. 816 exvands the

statutory definition of first de-

gree murder by including the

murder of a fetus. This was in

response to a recent State Su-

preme Court decision that a man

who deliberately stomped . to

death the thirty-four- or five-

week old fetus carried by his ex-

-wife could not be prosecuted for

murder because a fetus is not a

"human being" within the statu-

tory definition of murder. This

decision outraged many legisla-

tors. Amendments were achieved

to remove any effect on the

manslaughter statutes and to ex-

clude all abortions, legal or il-

legal, but the bill itself could

not be stopped, and was signed

by the Governor.

Bombings

A.B. 1003 was a reaction to

the recent wave of bombings

throughout the state and the na-

tion, It increased all the penal-

ties for bombing, and specifical-

ly extended the death penalty

(already available where a bomb-

ing produced death) to any

bombing producing mayhem or

serious bodily injury.

One bill to expand the death

penalty failed: it would have

made capital punishment man-

datory wherever a defendant was

convicted of the first degree mur-

der of a police officer,

Positive Legislation

No positive legislation suc-

ceeded. Alan Sieroty's usual ef-

fort to abolish the death penalty

died, again as usual, in the Crim-

inal Procedure Committee. And |

the Governor vetoed A.B. 1995,

by Frank Murphy Jr. of Santa

Cruz, the Republican Chairman

of the Criminal Procedure Com-

mittee. A.B. 1995 would have

permitted the trying of the pen-

alty phase of a death case by a

panel of three judges instead of

a jury. Since under the bill and

the state constitution both the

prosecution and the defense

would have had to agree to the

procedure or it could not be

used, the bill was not exactly a

revolutionary change. Still the

Governor vetoed it, indicating

that as long as he is governor we

will retain the death penalty.

Wiretapping

It was previously reported here

that the Assembly Criminal Pro-

cedure Committee had _ killed,

SUMMARY

of 1970

LEGISLATIVE

SESSION

By CHARLES MARSON

ACLUNC Legislative Representative

four to three, both current pro-

posals for enabling state and lo-

cal law enforcement personnel

to obtain warrants for wiretap-

ting and eavesdropping. Matters

remained in that posture until

the end of the session, when both

bills died due to inaction, It was

admitted on the floor of the As-

sembly in the last week of the

session that the supporters of

wiretapping (notably the Gover-

nor's office) had given serious

consideration to "hijacking" a

bill in order to get the question

past the Criminal Procedure

Committee. The plan was to pick

an Asembly bill already in the

Senate, amend the wiretap bill

into it, and then bring the bill

back to the Assembly floor for. -

concurrence in Senate Amend-

ments, thereby bypassing Crim-

inal Procedure. Hijacking bills is

very rarely done and is consider-

ed unethical, Assemblyman W.

Craig Biddle, author of the wire-

tap bill in question, refused to

participate in the scheme, and so

the plot was abandoned. But an

interim study of the matter was

ordered, during which recalci-

trant Criminal Procedure Com-

mittee members will be flown to

Washington to discuss the effi-

cacy of wiretapping with no less

a luminary than John Mitchell.

There is every indication that

the wiretapping battle bill will

resume unabated as soon as-the

Legislature reconvenes.

Bail and Preventive Detention

The subjeet of preventive de-

tention, which has been lurking

under the surface in Sacramento

ever since President Nixon en.

dorsed the proposal, has come

out into the open in the form of

S.B. 947, by Senator Robert Lag-

omarsino (R.-Santa Barbara), a

sweeping program of preventive

detention supported by the Gov-

ernor's office. Fortunately the

State constitution contains a

provision not found in the fed-

eral constitution to the effect

that release on bail cannot be

denied except in capital cases

where the proof is clear or the

presumption great. Any preven-

tive detention scheme will, there-

fore, require a two-thirds vote

and apparently the votes, to

amend the state constitution.

Realizing that*such a vote was

not forthcoming this year, the

Senate Judiciary Committee in-

stead referred the matter to in-

terim study. Next year should

bring a serious attempt to amend

the state constitution to permit

this practice.

Marijuana

Marijuana was a subject too

hot to handle in an election year;

every piece of legislation, good

or bad, was defeated or vetoed.

On the positive side, Assembly-

man Sieroty introduced legisla-

tion to reduce first offense pos-

- session to a misdemeanor, to re-

peal the requirement that con-

victed marijuana possessors reg-

ister in every place they reside,

and to relieve hospitals and clin-

ics of the burden of reporting

those under the influence of

- marijuana or restricted danger-

ous drugs to the police. The first

measure, hopelessly short of

votes, died in the Criminal Pro-

cedure Committee. The second

was defeated on the Assembly

floor, and the third expired in

the Senate Health and Welfare

Committee.

Separate Section

Assemblyman John Vasconcel-

los (D.-San Jose, Campbell) once

again introduced legislation

which would simply remove mari-

juana from the "narcotics" por-

tion of the Health and Safety

Code and place it in a separate

section, without altering penal-

ties, The Bill was killed in the

Assembly Health and `Welfare

Committee. A similar bill, A.B.

221, by Assemblyman Campbell,

managed to get through the leg-

islature but was vetoed by the

Governor. The bill would have

transferred marijuana to the

"Restricted Dangerous Drugs"

section of the Health and Safety

Code.

Increasing Penalties

Those wishing to make the law

on marijuana worse fared no bet-

ter, Senator Deukmejian, while

running in the Republican pri-

mary for Attorney General, in-

troduced a bill to prohibit treat-

ing first offense possession as a

misdemeanor unless the defend-

ant had successfully completed a

year's probation. Senator Lago-

marsino authored a bill to re-

quire courts to take driver's li-

censes away from young persons

convicted of marijuana offenses.

Both bills passed the Senate but

were killed in the Assembly.

These actions closely parallel

last year, and feach once again

that until public awareness of

the issues grows the legislature

will not act on this problem, and

that this Governor will veto prac-

tically anything that they do.

Parole Reform

The usual barrage of bills was

introduced by liberals in this ses-

sion to reform the almost total

lack of due process in the grant-

ing and the revoking of parole.

None of them succeeded.

The two most important bills

had prestigious authors and rep-

resented a great deal of thought

and study. A.B. 1511, by W.

Craig Biddle, former Chairman,

of Criminal Procedure and cur-

rently Majority Floor leader,

would have restructured the

membership of the Adult Author-

ity and would have required

them to release a prisoner at the

earliest potential release date un-

less the prisoner fell within one

of six defined categories having

to do with dangerousness, past

records, and the like. The Adult

Authority, sensing intrusion into

its fiefdom, cried law and order

(or, in this case, murder, rape

and robbery) throughout the As-

sembly and succeeded- in stop-

ping the bill in the Senate Judi-

ciary Committee. The same com-

mittee was the burying ground

for A.B. 2324, by Frank Murphy,

Jr., chairman of Criminal Pro-

cedure. A.B. 2324 would have

required the Adult Authority,

where a parole revocation was

contested on the facts, to hold

an evidentiary hearing in the

county where the violation oc-

curred, permitting counsel and

applying rules of evidence, com-

pulsory process and the like, The

matter was politely referred to

interim study, from which it

will probably not emerge,

Assemblymen Willie Brown Jr,

and John Burton, both of San

Francisco, once again introduced

a bill to repeal the present crim-

inal statutes concerning sexual

practices between consenting

adults in private, such as the

laws against oral copulation and

sodomy. The bill was held in the

Criminal Procedure Committee

after an informal count revealed

-Continued on Page 4

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION NEWS

Published by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California

Second Class Mail privileges authorized at San Francisco, California

ERNEST BESIG .. . Editor

593 Markket Street, San Francisco, California 94105, 433-2750

Subcription Rates -- Two Dollars and Fifty Cents a Year

Twenty-Five Cents Per Copy

cent

E 151

Membership

Polled

On Financial Merger

Continued from Page 1-

in respect to membership and

income that an affiliate's becom-

ing integrated or not makes a.

difference, It was the belief of

the National Planning Commit-

tee that the overall effect of in-

tegration would be advantageous

in the development of member-

ship in ACLU and in the partici-

pation of members in the pro-

gram of both the affiliate and

the national organization, Par-

ticularly with respect to nation-

al legislation, the regular re-

porting of the legislative inter-

ests of our Washington effort

would enhance the _ effective-

ness of that effort by involving

the members of ACLU of North-

ern California."

2. The financial merger would

eliminate the confusion of sep-

arate memberships and compe-

tition for funds in northern Cali-

fornia.

3. It would result in financial

contributions to the national

work, As Howard Jewel puts it,

"We have had all the benefits of

ACLU and yet every nickel we

raised we spent on ourselves.

We can continue to do that or

`we can begin to share with the

family." Or, as another board

member puts it, we have a moral

responsibility to contribute to

National.

4, Northern California mem-

bers would be kept informed of

national work through national's

publication.

5. The members

National

would provide a reservoir for lo- .

cal workers.

6. Phychologically, our rela-

tionship with the rest of the

ACLU family would improve be-

cause we are now the only af-

filiate which has not merged fi-

nancially with National,

Objections to Merging

`Some of the arguments against

financia] and membership inte-

gration are as follows:

1, Contributions to the branch

would no longer be deductible

for income tax purposes since

contributions to the _ parent

group are not deductible. Conse-

quently, some contributors might

diminish their contributions.

Also, bequests to the branch

might suffer,

2, Financial integration would,

on the basis of our present op-

eration, increase branch costs by

$18,454 and, therefore, affect our

program adversely, Such costs

are follows:

_Loss from 700

members belonging

to both groups .............. $ 7,000

Transfer of 500 out-of-

state members to

other affiliates .............. 4,000

Added mailer's costs

resulting from 4,300

new names added to

roster plus hundreds

of "dormants" .............. 2,500

Additional office help...... 4,000:

Social Security and

Wokmen's Comp. .......... 250

ACLU NEWS for

added members ............ 684

Increased postage

charges ....622 a... 720

Envelopes and letterheads

for mailings .................. 500

Total $18,454

Small offsetting financial bene-

fits would still leave a loss of

$17,500 available for local civil

liberties work,

3, If the branch surrenders its

_ financial independence it sub-

jects its finances to regulation

by National. No special local

appeal for funds may be made

to the membership without the

approval of National. Indeed,

the national board may at any

time take over from financially

merged branches the right to so-

licit any funds from the mem-

bership, A proposal for National

to take over complete responsi-

bility for collecting membership

contributions (on the ground

that they could do so more ef-

ficiently. and profitably and in-

sure against branches failing to

remit funds) was defeated at

the last national board meeting,

but may be reconsidered.

4 Many members would re-

ceive repeated solicitations for

membership despite belonging

to ACLU because National buys

mailing lists which it solicits for

contributions without being al-

lowed to screen out members.

Some members unwittingly send

in their "renewals" when they

are not due and thus are nicked

for extra contributions, In this

way there might be some in-

crease in membership contribu-

tions, but at a cost of good will.

Also, national sells or exchanges

its mailing list and, therefore, vio-

lates the privacy of members.

5. There is no validity to the

argument that this branch is

free-loading or not sharing fi-

nancially in the national work.

The branch does things for Na-

tiona] and vice versa. National

also benefits from the effective

branch program and vice versa.

There are a limited number

of civil liberties dollars for

ACLU to tap in northern Cali-

fornia. Those dollars remain

substantially the same under a

financial merger as under the

independent system, National

will very likely receive $98,000.

from northern California during

the present calendar year, al] of

which will be spent solely for

the national program.

Roughly, $245,000 is the total

membership income in northern

California received by National

and the branch, while last year

the total membership income in

southern California was $253,767.

On August 31, Southern Cali-

fornia was running at 106% of

last year's income, or at a rate

of $269,000 for the present calen-

dar year. In other words, despite

having 60% of the population, -

the membership income of

Southern California is only

$25,000 or 10% more than in

northern California, The inde-

pendent financial system operat-

ing in northern California seems

to produce more income for civil

liberties than financial integra-

tion.

6. A financial merger wil] hurt

our membership campaign and

result in fewer new members.

This results from the shift of

our fiscal year to the calendar

- year on which National operates.

Since the first few months of the

year would be devoted to re-

enrolling our members the reg-

ular Spring membership cam-

paign could not get into full

swing until May and, because of

the summer vacations, would ex-

tend for only two months in-

stead of the usual four months.

The campaign could not be

shifted to the Fall because it

takes a couple of months to se-

cure and check the names of the

usual 4,500 prospects. If the

campaign began on November 1,

no more than six weeks would

be available because of Christ-

mas activities, The membership

campaign is absolutely: essential

to help replace the 20% loss of

members (through moving, loss

of interest, etc.) which the

branch suffers each year.

7, An experimental period of

three years is not practical.

After three years both groups

would have the complete mem-

bership list, there would have

been substantial changes and

there could be no division of the

mailing list as it stood at the

time financia] independence was

suspended,

8. Civil liberties work would

not be enhanced by financial in-

tegration. In fact, the program

in northern California would suf-

fer because less money would be

available. Otherwise, the work

would go on as before.

9 Should a financial merger

take place the branch's autono-

my would be weakened, In the

past there have been substantial

differences with National and

even threats of disaffiliation be-

Obscenity

Conviction

Attacked

Robert Garner, the proprietor

of a bottomless bar in the San

Jose area, was. arrested some

time ago and convicted for vio-

lating Penal Code Section 647(a)

(soliciting lewd conduct) and

Penal Code Section 314(2) solicit-

ing exposure). His crime was to

stage a bottomless dance in his

bar that offended the authorities.

Garner's conviction was affirmed

on direct appeal, and he has now

filed a petition in the State Su-

preme Court for habeas corpus,

claiming that he was wrongly

prosecuted and convicted in viola-

tion of his First Amendment

rights. He is represented on this

-petition by Ephraim Margolin.

"Hard Core" Doctrine

ACLUNC has filed an amicus

brief urging the Court to grant

the petition in order to put to

rest a particularly disturbing doc-

trine that sprung up at Garner's

trial. Although State law has re-

quired since 1968 that in the top-

less-bottomless situation First

Amendments standards of ob-

scenity be applied, prosecution in

Garner's trial sought to avoid

this burden by making a motion

to be excused of the necessity of

proving the elements of obscen-

ity. The motion was made on the

ground that the conduct involved

was so `hard core'' that its ob-

scenity was indisputable. The trial

court granted the motion over ob-

jection.

ACLUNC's Contentions

ACLUNC's brief argues that this

amounts to directing a guilty ver-

dict, at least where everybody

agrees that the defendant did the

exhibition or display. It amounts,

says the brief, to a clear viola-

tion of due process because it per-

mits the prosecution to obtain a

conviction for a criminal act with-

out putting on any proof whatso-

ever that the act was in fact

criminal. The ``hard core doc-

trine" has been lurking in ob-

scenity law for some time and

seems to be becoming increasing-

ly popular in trial courts. The

brief urges the Supreme Court to

take the case in order to denounce

the hard-core doctrine by holding

that it violates established Cali-

fornia law, that as community

standards become more tolerant

the hard-core exception threatens

to swallow up all the rest of ob-

scenity law, and that in addition

to violating the guarantees of due

process, the hard-core exception

makes a mockery of all the pro-

cedural protections now afforded

to those accused of distributing

obscenity-such as prior adver-

sary hearings before eter can

be seized.

cause the branch challenged the

war-time exclusion of Nisei from

the Pacific Coast and supported

the suits to restore the citizen-

ship of persons of Japanese an-

cestry who had renounced un-

der duress, The branch also op-

posed National's own "loyalty

oath," the Truman loyalty pro-

gram, Nationals policy against

handling certain war-time cases

affecting Germans and _ Italians,

its anti-Communist resolutions,

etc., all of which it was able to

do because of its financial inde-

pendence. |

10, There would be no sub-

stantial increase in workers

available to chapters from the

4,300 national members because

most civil liberties activists have

already associated themselves

with chapter work.

11, Should this branch which

on October 31, 1969 had $79,746

in Reserve and Obligated Funds,

merge financially with a group

that doesn't do a good job man-

aging its own funds? Shortly be-

fore Pat Malin quit, National

got into financial difficuties and,

- despite increased income, there

is a financia] crisis at the pres-

ent time.

Please give the branch board

the benefit of your ee

-E.B

U. S. District Court Suit

College Campus

Banishment Law

Challenged

ACLUNC has filed in the Federal District Court in San

Francisco an action seeking to enjoin and declare unconstitu-

tional the 1969 California Legislature's primary answer to

the problem of campus unrest. In 1969 the Legislature,

after months of negotiation and compromise, passed a pack-:

age of legislation in response

to the then burning issues of

_ student strikes at San Francisco

State College and the University

of California at Berkeley. The

major addition to the statutory

law was Penal Code Section

626.4, which authorizes the chief

administrative officer of a cam-

pus (or his designee, usually a

campus policeman) to "withdraw

the consent" of any person to be

on the campus if he reasonably

believes that the person has

"willfully disrupted the orderly

operation'' of the school.

Berkeley and San Jose State

ACLUNC has filed the action

on behalf of Matthew Ross and

Richard Cates,

Berkeley, and Michael] Lyon of

San Jose State College, All the

plaintiffs have been arrested

after returning to campus during

the 14-day period in which they

had been ordered off. Under the

statute such return is a mis-

demeanor trespass,

Ross Case

ACLUNC takes the position

that the statute, which in effect

authorizes the administrative

banishment of alleged trouble-

makers for 14 days, is a whole-

Federal Court Order

Peace and Ecolo

both of U.C. -

sale violation of the First, Fifth,

and Fourteenth Amendments.

This is most easily seen in the

case of Matthew Ross, who

while a student at Berkeley was

ejected from the campus for 14

days. During the 14 day period

Cambodia was invaded and four

students shot at Kent State Uni-

versity, Ross was invited to give

a political speech in the Greek

Theater on the University cam-

pus by a faculty member, and

did so, after which he surren-

dered himself to police and was

arrested.

First Amendment Rights

The suit argues that the stat-

ute permits discretionary revoca-

tion of a host of First Amend-

ment rights without any judicial

superintendance and in the dis-

cretion of the campus police.

The suit asks that a three-judge

federal court be convened to

consider the constitutionality of

the statute and enjoin the State

prosecutions against the three

plaintiffs. The ease is being

handled by the Branch staff with

the assistance of Raoul Kennedy,

a volunteer attorney from Oak-

land.

gy Symbols

Come to Richmond Schools

The Richmond School District opened the school year

with a directive to elementary principals instructing them to

discourage the use of peace and ecology symbols by students.

The principals were informed that "both the cause of peace

and that of improved ecology can be furthered in our schools

without resort to the current

symbols used by some in our

society." Assistant Superinten-

dent of Elementary Education,

Robert J. Griffin, explained that

"the use of symbols tends to di-

vide society and what we afe

trying to do is accentuate the

positive. The best example of

this is President Nixon, who is

currently leading us _ toward

peace without the use of symbols,

but with words and actions."

Federal Suit Filed

Although "symbols", in the

view of Richmond School author-

ities, are "divisive,' the theory

has its limits. At last report the

Richmond schools were not pro-

hibiting the flag salute, And it

looks as if they will not be pro-

hibiting the use of peace and

ecology symbols either for within

a few days of the anti-symbol di-

rective, ACLUNC volunteer at-

torney Davis Rosenthal of Rich-

mond brought suit on behalf of

eight-year-old Roger Genosik, a

student at Richmond's Washing-

ton Elementary School. Genosik,

and his mother, contended in

their suit that Roger wished to

wear, display, possess and create

current symbols of peace and

ecology at the school and on

school property but that he was

discouraged from doing so be-

cause of the directive.

Restraining Order

On the day that suit was filed

Federal District Judge Gerald S.

Levin issued an order temporari-

ly restraining the School District

from "threatening, harassing, in-

timidating, discouraging, punish.

ing, discriminating . against, or

disciplining plaintiffs and the

DECEMBER, 1970

members of the class to which

they belong from the use, dis-

play, creating or wearing of

commonly used peace and ecol-

_ogy symbols until further order

of this Court."

Supplemental Directive Sought

In order to forestall issuance

of a preliminary injunction, As-

sistant Superintendent Griffin

has now issued a new directive

to elementary principals stating

that: "there is no district policy

prohibiting the wearing of peace

or ecology symbols by students."

On the basis of that new direc-

tive, the School District's attor-

neys moved to dismiss the case.

But Rosentha] (or "Uncondition--

al Surrender" Rosenthal, as the

School District's attorneys have

dubbed him) was not satisfied.

He has asked the authorities to

issue a supplemental directive .

explaining that there is also no

policy against the creation of

peace and ecology symbols by

students on the campus. Judge

Levin has preliminarily decided

that there is merit in Rosenthal's

contention that the district has

not gone far enough in rectifying

its previous unlawful directive

and has given the School Dis-

trict another week to adopt the

suggested supplemental directive

before determining whether to

grant further injunctive relief.

If the Rosenthal suggestion is

adopted, and the supplemental

directive sent to principals, the

suit will be terminated by mu-

tual consent.

ACLU NEWS

Page 3

Continued from Page 2-

no more than twenty-six to thirty

votes on the Assembly floor.

Assemblyman Charles Warren

(D.-Los Angeles) succeeded in

adding sex to the list of forbid-

den reasons for discrimination in

the Fair Employment Practices

statutes, and the Governor signed

the bill. Assemblyman Warren

had quite a struggle, especially

in the Senate where the bill was

amended by its enemies to re-

peal all women's protective leg-

islation in the Labor Code, That

amendment was finally removed

after some months of negotiation.

There is every reason to believe

that sex discrimination will soon

create a larger work load for the

FEPC than discrimination of any

other type.

All other bills to change pro-

tective legislation for women-

hours, weight limits and the like

-were opposed by organized la-

bor and were killed.

Rock Festivals

All three bills to clamp down

on rock festivals were success-

fully opposed in this session. A.B.

148, by Eugene Chappie (R.-

Cool), and S.B. 54, by Senator

Donald Grunsky (R.-Watsonville)

were similar efforts to intimi-

date the promoters of rock fes-

tivals by requiring them to post

enormous bonds (five million

dollar limit in A.B. 148, more in

S.B. 54) against the costs of po-

licing and patrolling the festi-

vals, and then to pay all those

costs. In addition, S.B. 54 im-

posed almost absolute civil lia-

bility on any landowner leasing

or permitting his land to be used

for such an event. S.B, 54 passed

the Senate but both bills foun-

dered in the Assembly Local Gov-

ernment Committee. These vic-

tories would have been sweeter

except for the fact that nearly

every county has now adopted

similar measures, and so the bat-

tle has shifted to the level of lo-

cal government.

The third bill was A.B, 705, by

Robert Wood, the Republican

who recently defeated Democrat

Fred Farr in a special election

for a vacant seat in Monterey.

Wood's bill would have made it

a felony to violate any local

ordinance regulating rock fes-

tivals (local ordinances can pro-

vide only for misdemeanor pun-

ishment). The Criminal Proce-

dure Committee was not per-

suaded of the necessity for the

bill, and killed it.

Teachers: Cambodia and Tenure

Teachers, as the loyalty con-

troversy showed (as well as the

grant of raises to all state em-

ployees except college and uni-

versity faculty), were not pop-

ular in Sacramento this year.

A.B. 2026, by John Stull (R.-

Leucadia), would have greatly al-

tered the existing system of ten-

ure for public school teachers by

removing from the Superior

Court the power to reinstate a

fired tenured teacher and plac-

ing the trial of the action in

front of an administrative hear-

ing officer-who could be over-

ruled by the governing board of

the school district, After much

amendment and intensive lobby-

ing (in which a particularly good

job was done by the California

Teachers' Association), the bill

failed to pass the Assembly Edu-

cation Committee. It is clear,

however, that members of both

parties are dissatisfied with ten-

ure, so this controversy will be a

continuing one.

The practice of reconstituting

classes after the invasion of Cam-

bodia to study or work on oppo-

sition to the war provoked As-

semblyman Charles Conrad into

introducing a bill which, in its

final form, would have permitted

the dismissal of any teacher who

failed without reasonable cause

to meet with a scheduled class or

to teach the subject matter of a

ACLU NEWS

NOVEMBER, 1970

Page 4

scheduled class. The bill narrow-

ly passed the Assembly but was

killed in the Senate Education

Committee,

Church and State

There is growing desperation

on both sides of the aisle over

the condition of public schools,

and it has led many legislators

to believe that the load on the

public schools could be at least

partially lifted if public money

were used to help finance at-

tendance at private schools. Since

similar plans have been put into

effect in the East (and in some

cases have been approved by fed-

eral courts against the conten-

tion that they violate the estab-

lishment clause of the First

Amendment), and since some

federal matching funds are avail-

able for this purpose, the solu-

tion is becoming increasingly

popular. Several bills were in-

troduced this year to provide va-

riations on the "voucher" system,

whereby each student receives a

voucher for a fixed sum redeem-

able by private schools. Each

such proposal failed for lack of

money.

A more sweeping approach was

Assembly Constitutional Amend-

ment 4%, by W. Craig Biddle,

which would have amended the

state constitution's extremely

strict provisions on this subject

to permit limited financial sup-

port to private schools. The

measure passed the Assembly but

failed to receive two-thirds ap-

proval on the Senate floor.

All indications are that this

issue will be a major one next

year.

Miscellaneous

A number of bills that do not

fit handily into the previous

categories deserve mention:

A.C.A. 40, jointly authored by

Democrat John Vasconcelos and

Republican John Briggs, would

have extended the vote to eight-

een-year-olds and would have

made 18 the age of majority for

all purposes except laws pertain- -

ing to alcohol. The measure need-

ed a two-thirds vote of each

house to get on the ballot, and

narrowly failed on the Senate

floor. The only measure in this

area that became law was a bill

by Senators Moscone and Marks

of San Francisco which will per-

mit eighteen-year-olds to circu-

late petitions concerning the

eighteen-year-old vote (presently

the law requires the circulator to

be a registered vote).

Oral Search Warrants

Police may now obtain search

warrants over the telephone or

radio under the provisions of

S.B. 306, by Senator Grunsky,

which the Governor has signed.

The bill provides that, instead of

executing an affidavit, the apply-

ing officer may make an oral

statement under oath, which is

recorded and transcribed, and is

questioned by the issuing magis-

trate. If the judge orallv author-

ized the warrant the officer is

empowered to sign the judge's

name to a "duvlicate original."

ACLU opposed the bill and suc-

ceeded in improvine it by amend-

ment but not in defeating it.

Welfare Reform

A.B. 1360, the Governor's wel-

fare reform proposal, began the

year as a terribly repressive

measure, full of unconstitutional

provisions (for example, a reci-

pient recently moving into the

state could get no more than the

amount he received in his pre-

vious state of residence). Most

of the more flagrantlv illegal pro-

visions were amended out, but

the bill was still rather vicious

when it passed the Assembly.

After extensive maneuvering

among the concerned parties the

bill was so confused and contro-

versial that the last levislative

act of the Senate was to kill it-

with manv conservative Senators

agreeing that the bill was hope-

less.

Legislative Summary

The law of abortion stayed

stalemated this year. Senator

Tony Beilenson introduced a bill

to legalize abortion when con-

sented to by mother and physi-

cian, but the bill had far too

little support and never emerged

from the Senate. .

Size of Juries.

Several proposals were intro-

duced in the Senate to make

juries in criminal cases consist

of ten rather than twelve mem-

bers. All were unsuccessful and

were referred to interim study.

Late in the session the United

`States Supreme Court handed

down a decision upholding the

use of a six-man jury in a crimi-

nal case, thus making this area

one of the most likely centers of

controversy for next year.

Large packages of legislation

on juvenile court law were intro-

duced independently by Assem-

blymen Willie Brown and Bill

Greene and by Senator Kennick.

None of them survived the ses-

sion; the Senate Judiciary Com-

mittee is conducting extensive

hearings in the interim on this

subject and is promising to pro-

duce legislation for next year.

New Laws

The legislature passed, and

the Governor signed, bills to:

-end the practice of disquali-

fying all felons from voting and

substitute a system of weighing

the offense of each applicant;

-revise, for the better, the

procedures. that must be used

for suspending a public school

teacher for mental disability;

-repeal the ancient statutory

prohibition on hiring certain

classes of aliens in public works

projects;

-memorialize Congress (in a

joint resolution) to repeal the

emergency detention provisions

of the McCarren Act;

-remove the two month resi-

dency requirement for those tak-

ing the State Bar examination;

-put plea bargaining on the

record in criminal courts;

-expand the Governor's pow-

ers in a state of emergency (a

compromise resulting from a

two-session struggle between

ACLU and the Governor's Dis-

aster Office);

-revise the criminal provis-

ion against loitering near

schools by defining: "loiter" to

mean lingering or standing idly

without lawful business;

-hbring all "obscene live con-

duct'? such as plays and topless.

dancing within the obscenity law

and therefore within the restric-

tions of the First Amendment;

-give statutory authority to

judges to exclude disruptive

defendants from courtrooms un-

til they promise to behave,

Defeated Bills

DEFEATED were bills to:

-Give broad civil discovery

powers to district attorneys con-

ducting criminal investigations;

-permit access to computer

stored information by the sub-

ject of the information, and a

chance to correct it;

-permit policemen to take

minors into custody if observed

in a public place without a valid

excuse for not being in school;

-require a citizen to be paid

attorney's fees if successful in

litigation against a government

agency found to have acted. un-

reasonably and arbitrarily;

-require a majority vote of a

local community before partici-

pation in a Model Cities pro-

gram;

-give power to the attorney

general to institute a civil action

to abolish corporations and part-

nerships with `criminal connec-

tions";

-repeal the current presump-

tion that an applicant for unem-

ployment insurance left his

previous employer for good

cause;

-create a statewide Public

Defender's office to handie in-

digent criminal appeals; :

-end the current practice of

the Department of Motor Ve-

Report on Recent

Chapter Conference

When 90 people active in ACLU gather on a fine Satur-

day to spend the entire day learning about civil liberties

and discussing programs and methods of implementing

them as they did at the Oetober 17 Chapter Conference, and

come away feeling enthusiastic and ready to work in the

coming year, one feels that the

Chapters are indeed a vital force

for civil liberties. ;

Chapter Reports

Upon arrival, the participants

were reminded of the extent to

which the public misunderstands

or rejects the Bill of Rights, by

means of a segment of a CBS

film. Warren Saltzman, chair-

man of the Branch Chapter

Committee, again provided able

chairmanship of the conference.

' Each Chapter chairman spoke of

the activities and problems of

his Chapter, and this once again

proved of interest and value

since Chapters rarely have an in-

depth view of what occurs in

other areas.

Four Workshops

The four workshop sessions in

the morning were devoted to

areas of Chapter functioning for

example, how to involve mem-

bers in substantive projects

while serving the organizational

needs of the Chapter, Paul Hal-

vonik worked with a session on

Chapter legal] committees, and

the workshop on Chapter fi-

nances made concrete recom-

Loyalty Oath

Case To

Supreme Court

Last spring, before a panel of

three federal judges in~ San

Francisco, ACLUNC successful-

ly prosecuted an action to en-

join the enforcement of a statu-

tory loyalty oath imposed on all

California teachers below the

college `level, The oath, which

was invalidated in a two to one

decision, requires that a teach-

er swears that he will "promote

respect for the flag and respect

for law and order and allegiance

to the government of the United

States of America" as a condi-

tion to receiving a teaching cre-

dential, The three-judge district

court ruled the oath unconstitu-

tionally vague and overbroad.

ACLUNC's client in the case was

Kenneth McKay, a teacher at

San Jose State College.

The Department of Education

decided to appeal the case and

applied for hearing to the United

States Supreme Court. ACLUNC,

finding itself in the unusual] but

happy position of defending in

the Supreme Court the ruling of

a lower court, has filed a motion

to affirm the judgment below on

the ground that it was clearly

correct, The brief argues that to

require a teacher to swear to

promote respect for the flag and

respect for law and order is

to require oaths so vague that

teachers cannot understand

what they are required to do

and will therefore refrain from

exercising their First Amend-

ment rights out of fear of the

loss of their credential.

hicles of peddling information

on licencees; :

-jail the father of AFDC re-

cipients who refuses without

good cause to participate in a

work training program.

Vetoed Measures

Passed by the legislature but

VETOED by the Governor were

bills to:

-require a court to treat a

police officer testifying on a mo-

tion to supress evidence as a

witness hostile to the defendant;

-extend the statutory rights

to mail and literature now en-

joyed by state prisoners to pris-

oners in county jails;

-provide for the selection of

indictment grand juries at ran-

dom from lists of registered

voters,

This summary is necessarly in-

complete. All specific inquiries

about bills are welcome.

- procedures,

mendations to the Branch Spe-

cial Committee on Branch-Chap-

ter Finances, which has since

been adopted as policy by the

Board of Directors, Under this

plan, Chapters will work to in-

crease membership contributions

to ACLUNC, and gather many

new members, and will share in

the resulting increase in mem-

bership income. The fourth

workshop devoted itself to de-

_ veloping innovative ways for ed-

ucating the public about civil

liberties, Thanks go to all the

people who chaired workshop

~ sessions!

After a box lunch arranged by

Joan Sipherd, the Conference

gathered for a panel discussion

of ACLU's role in the civil lib-

erties issues of today. The par-

ticipants represented a wide

range cf civil liberties philoso-

phy and background and the au-

dience seemed to actively re-

spond to one or another of the

ideas presented, their excitement

and anger and doubts conveying

the involvement which they felt.

Afternoon Sessions

The afternoon workshops con-

centrated on substantive areas

of Chapter programming, each

workshop with a chairman from

a Chapter and two resource peo-

ple from the community or

ACLUNC, Those who sat with.

the workshop of "Due process

gaps: repressive or unresponsive

government agencies and person-

nel," shared the thoughts of

Jerry Carlin, former head of

Neighborhood Legal Services,

and Richard Mayers, Deputy At-

torney General, Berkeley Police

Conduct Complaint Center co-

ordinator, Diane Schroerluke,

and Charnee Smith, chairman of

the League of Women Voters

study on responsiveness of gov-

ernment and citizens grievance

were valuable re-

sources for the session on, "Com-

munity complaint centers, om-

budsmen." John Marquis and

Richard Werthimer of the

ACLUNC Board of Directors

dealt with implementing

ACLUNC policies on Indochina,

the Draft, and related matters.

The "Students rights, academic

freedom" session had the benefit

of extensive experience of Su-

sanne Martinez of the Youth Law

Center, and of Robert O'Neil of

the U.C. Boalt Law School, and

Chapter participants welcomed

the opportunity to learn more

about an area they seem to

need to deal with often, Mem-

bers of each Chapter's Board of

Directors can expect detailed `re-

ports from each workshop in a

forthcoming issue of. the

"ACLUNC Chapter Under-

ground."

Area of Concern

Conference participants voted

to urge the selection of a major

area of civil liberties concern to

which all Chapters would devote

significant efforts during the

coming year, and expressed

their preference for such an

area, The Conference ended at

4:40 and a group of twenty ad-

journed to the Harbin restaurant

to continue the discussions over

dinner.

The Conference was marked

by feelings of good-fellowship

and cooperation among the

Chapters, those Board members

who were present, and ACLUNC

staff, although a negative note

was the absence of representa-

tives from two Chapters. Despite

the problems that exist on the

Chapter level, and the great

numbers of you who are reading

this but not actively participat-

ing in your local Chapter activ-

ities, it is hard not to feel great

optimism about the ACLUNC

Chapter program.

Caro] Weintraub,

Chapter Director