update on pending legislati

DEATH TO THE BILL OF RIGHTS

It is one thing to hear and read about political repression; it is another to live under its grip. Among the Left who are now in their 50's and 60's, you can find an oral tradition, comprised of numerous tales describing youthful efforts of resistance during the wretched period of McCarthyism. Many progressives also tried to side-step the ugly claws of red-baiting by withdrawing into silence as often as possible. Both political resistance and deliberate avoidance demanded considerable thought, time, and energy.

For all the demonstrations and political activities in which I have been involved, I doubt that I entirely comprehend how it must have felt to face the intimi. dation and vicious power flaunted by the Federal Government during the Cold War. If you would like to read a first-hand, impressionistic account of this time, look at Scoundrel Time by Lillian Hellman. I have gained a great deal of respect for these people who endured such psychologically harsh conditions. This group is commonly referred to by the affectionate but ageist term, "Old Lefties," which makes them sound inactive and forgotten.

It was unsettling to attend an emergency meeting called by the Coalition Against S.1437 and to look around at who showed up. With the exception of a few young people, the majority obviously rose from the ranks of -guess who -the Old Lefties. The following groups make up the Coalition: Urban League, Cleveland Lawyers Guild, American Friends Service Committee, Clergy and Lalty Concerned, NARAL Cleveland Chapter, Women Speak Out for Peace and Justice, ACLU of Greater Cleveland, The Workman's Circle, National Lawyers Guild--CSU Chapter, Ohio Civil Service Employers' Association--Lake County Chapter. Because many of the repressive features of S.1437 threaten our basic constitutional rights, I would like to help spread information about it past the boundaries of civil libertarian groups and into feminist territory. In 1966 the Brown Commission tried to consolidate and revise the Federal criminal code system, which has contradictions in the extent of jurisdiction and many disparities in sentencing. The Nixon Administration attempted to convert a code of law reform into a blueprint for repression, notoriously known as the S.1 bill and halted because of public pressure. S.1 would have enabled the Federal Government to crush all political opposition and to insulate itself from public criticism and influence. Although some of the repressive features, especially those limiting freedom of the press, have been eliminated in the currently revised bill (S.1437 in the Senate and H.R.6869 in the House), the Nixon philosophy still blinks its fanatical, evil eye in the present form.

Although some of the legislative issues about this bill continue to change and most of the complicated, legal literature make interpretation difficult, basic features stand out clearly: (1) the repressive substance of the bill; and (2) the way in which legislation was handled. We should not be surprised at the resemblance of S.1437 to the older atrocity, S.1. The four Justice Department staff members, headed by Ron Gainer, who were responsible for the wording of S.1, are the authors of S.1437.

Many Democrats are bewildered that Senator Kennedy would co-sponsor S.1437, a bill which drastically infringes upon our civil liberties, especially when the other co-sponsor is Strom Thurmond.

Extending 682 pages over the domain of some 3,000 offenses, S.1437 underwent a brief five-day span of hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee under the Sunshine Act of 1975. These "mark-up"sessions used to be held secretly. The Sunshine Act provides for open hearing of the

Page 8/What She Wants/April, 1978

amendment process in the presence of citizens and the press. During fourteen days of what should have been a critical stage of legislation, Kennedy -alone and without a quorum -presided over the hearings and accepted without debate those amendments he considered non-controversial. Senator Metzenbaum was one of the few Senators who knew what was in S.1437, as he appeared before at the hearings and produced 30 amendments for the bill.

Voted out of committee November 15, the final version was printed December 10, when Senators were home for vacation. In the last week of December, Kennedy and Thurmond called Senate Majority Leader Byrd to suggest that they had a non-controversial bill with which to reopen the second session of the Senate in January. They also agreed that no advance notice would be published, according to Thurmond's office, so that "we could cut off a lot of outside interest group opposition."'

When the Senate reconvened January 18, 1978, only 7 Senators knew about the bill and 20 Senators were not even present. Senator Allen of Alabama, a conservative opponent of the bill, stated: "There aren't five Senators there who have any idea what's going on.... Worlds of amendments are being discovered. There are literally thousands of offenses here and I don't know if they're sound or not.'

During the ten minutes before the final vote on January 30, Kennedy introduced the other half of the original 5.1 bill, which included 324 pages of amendments which no one had even seen. He thereupon moved that this volume of revisions not be read aloud, and be passed with the rest of the omnibus bill. Think what you will about Kennedy's liberal reputation--coupled with his current behavior, his new role as head of the Senate Judiciary Committee is a position of high status and a politically expedient starting point for the presidential race.

Although as candidates, both Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale opposed both the original S.1 bill and amendments of any kind to S.1, they chose an eager advocate of S.1437 in Attorney General Griffin Bell, who has pushed for Congressional action: "... nothing is as important as this bill." The House version, H.R.6869, resumed limited hearings before the House Judiciary Committee in February. The National Committee Against Repressive Legislation has succeeded in extending the length of time allotted for debate in the House, where the political situation is more volatile and the possibility of a more objectionable bill than the one which passed the Senate is substantial,

Contact members of the House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice at the House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515, to express your opposition to H.R.6869. They are:

Thomas P. O'Neill (D-Mass.), Speaker of the House

Peter Rodino (D-N.J.), Chairperson of the House Judiciary Committee

James Mann (D-S.C.), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice Elizabeth Holtzmann (D-N.Y.} Sam Hall (D-Tex.)

Lamar Gudger (D-N.C.) Billy Lee Evans (R-Ga.) Charles Wiggins (R-Calif.) Henry Hyde (R-III.)

For more information contact The Coalition Against S.1437, 2108 Payne Avenue, Room 507, Cleveland, Ohio 4414, 626-3131.

--Carol Epstein

for there

SURE FEELS

GOOD TO STAND AGAIN...

S-1

Some Repressive Fea

.. Prohibition ogainst advertising for abortion: Reenacts outdated law banning "Every written or printed card, letter, circular, book, pamphlet, advertisement, or notice of any kind giving informa tion, directly or indirectly, where, or how, or from whom... may be obtained or made, or where or by whom any act or operation of any kind for the procuring or producing of abortion will be done or performed, or how or by what means abortion may be produced, whether sealed or unsealed. . . .''

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.. Preventive detention: Permits judges to deny bail to defendants awaiting trial if they are charged with certain violent crimes. This harsh inroad on the rights of criminal defendants violates Eighth Amendments right to bail and the common law principle of the presumption of innocence on the part of the accused.

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Sentencing: Falls far short of real reform and will exacerbate present problems in our criminal justice system. Could result in substantially higher federal prison sentences by severe cutback in avail. ability of parole and good-time release. Abrogates congressional responsibility to draft corrective sentencing legislation by delegating the task to a newly created Sentencing Commission whose recommendations are not even subject to congressional review Gives no encouragement to alternatives to incarcer ation such as day fines, restitution, intermittent incarceration, community service orders, etc. .. Logan Act: Reinstates 18th Century law barring private individuals from carrying on communications with foreign governments with regard to U.S. foreign relations. Jane Fonda and former Attorney General Ramsey Clark were threatened