Balancing civil liberties and homeland security: does the USA patriot act avoid justice Robert H. Jackson's "suicide pact"?

• Author: Thornburgh, Richard L.

1. INTRODUCTION

   As we commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the passing of Robert H. Jackson, we honor a man who capitalized on the infinite possibilities a legal education provides. Following his studies at Albany Law School, Justice Jackson's diverse career included serving as a country lawyer in Western New York, a close advisor to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Solicitor General and Attorney General of the United States, Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and chief U.S. prosecutor in the Nuremburg trials against Nazi war criminals. Although his career ended over fifty years ago, Jackson, in each of his legal capacities, wrestled with issues that continue to provoke debate in our nation and world today.

   A review of Justice Jackson's career reveals his involvement in some of the critical issues with which our country continues to struggle. During his tenure at the Department of Justice, Jackson co-authored briefs and argued the government's position before the United States Supreme Court in cases regarding the constitutionality of the Social Security Act. (1) Today our Congress and President assiduously work to define, or possibly redefine, the role of Social Security and to insure its viability for future generations. Additionally, as a Justice on the United States Supreme Court, Jackson authored the majority opinion in the case extending First Amendment protection to school children unwilling to salute the American flag. (2) Spirited debate persists today regarding the constitutionality of prayer in public arenas and the use of "God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. Perhaps one of Jackson's most historic statements as a Supreme Court Justice, however, arose from his dissent in Terminiello v. Chicago, (3) where Jackson, drawing on his experience at Nuremburg, argued to uphold a law restricting disorderly conduct and inciting unrest in an effort to preserve order and justice. Clearly, debate regarding the appropriate balance between civil liberties and governmental controls of those liberties is one of the paramount issues we are called upon to face today.

2. THE USA PATRIOT ACT: A MODERN DAY TERMINIELLO?

   1. A Brief History of Terminiello v. Chicago

      It is often only with the passing of time that we come to appreciate fully the importance of the works of our legal predecessors. At the time of Justice Jackson's dissent in Terminiello, one easily could have viewed his opinion as an inconsequential departure from the majority in an otherwise forgettable case. Jackson's rhetoric, however, now stands for certain hallmark principles in assessing the government's role in preserving civil liberties. The case stems from Father Arthur Terminiello, a suspended Catholic Priest and follower of American fascist leader Gerald L.K. Smith, being found guilty of disorderly conduct in violation of a Chicago city ordinance. Terminiello urged a mob of his sympathizers at a public meeting hall to rise up against a surrounding gathering of his critics. Terminiello warned of the risk of a Communist revolution in the United States, labeled former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt a Communist, and condemned "atheistic, communistic ... or Zionist Jews." (4) He referred to the mob of his critics as "slimy scum that got in by mistake. " (5) Terminiello's comments incited some members of the audience themselves to make callous remarks about Catholics, Jews, and African Americans, (6) while inciting critics to throw bricks and rocks through the meeting hall windows and break down the auditorium doors. (7) The police experienced difficulty in controlling the mob, but ultimately arrested seventeen individuals and charged Terminiello with provoking the episode. (8)

      Justice Douglas, writing for the majority hearing Terminiello's appeal, overturned the conviction, arguing that inviting dispute is a function of the free speech guaranteed by our Constitution. (9) Justice Jackson dissented. In explaining his divergence from Douglas, Jackson wrote: "An old proverb warns us to take heed lest we 'walk into a well from looking at the stars.'" (10) Jackson faulted the Court's majority for considering liberty and order diametric opposites of one another: "This Court seems to regard [liberty and order] as enemies of each other and to be of the view that we must forego order to achieve liberty." (11) Referencing the Nazi conspiracy and aggression with which he was intimately aware, Jackson argued that governments must have the power to control the speech and activity of organized demonstrators and "revolutionary fanatics" or risk being overtaken by terrorist factions; this was the consequence of unchecked factions that arose in pre-World War II Europe. (12) He recognized that while the substance of Terminiello's speech was protected by the First Amendment, Terminiello could not seek constitutional immunity for speech that incited such violence. (13) Jackson concluded his dissent with these historic words: "The choice is not between order and liberty. It is between liberty with order and anarchy without either. There is danger that, if the Court does not temper its doctrinaire logic with a little practical wisdom, it will convert the constitutional Bill of Rights into a suicide pact." (14)

      Almost certainly more than any other United States Supreme Court Justice in history, Justice Jackson had a first-hand appreciation of the risk of evil inflicted upon a society by a terrorist faction. Presiding over the Nuremberg trials, Jackson heard actual evidence of genocide and terrorism, and was a witness to the aftermath of a continent being terrorized for over a decade by an organized mob. (15) Jackson had only returned from Nuremberg three years prior to the Terminiello decision, and the lesson of the downfall of the Weimar Republic was foremost in his mind. (16) He understood that civil liberties could only survive under governments with the power to protect those liberties from attack. Recognizing that competing political interests could be fought out through the political system, or "with boots and brass knuckles in the streets," as was the case of the Nazi aggression, (17) Jackson perceived riots as a credible threat to a nation, and had the proof to support his claim.

      According to Jackson, the only reason Father Terminiello was able to arrive at the meeting hall, deliver his speech, and escape unharmed was because officers of the law possessed authority to restrain the mob. Order established by law enforcement carved the path for liberty. Quoting Chief Justice Hughes' opinion in Cox v. New Hampshire, Jackson reminded the Court that "[c]ivil liberties, as guaranteed by the Constitution, imply the existence of an organized society maintaining public order without which liberty itself would be lost in the excesses of unrestrained abuses." (18)

   2. The USA PATRIOT Act

      Although the issues concerning Father Terminiello, including communism and fascism, are not at the forefront of today's news, the extent to which civil liberties should be governed or limited by law continues to be hotly debated. After the horrific terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001, our country had no choice but to develop new techniques to combat terrorism. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies alike were forced to devise new methods to protect our citizenry and our institutions from the menace of violence and the potential use of weapons of mass destruction against our very homeland. Various governmental entities acknowledged that, historically, cooperation between agencies including law enforcement and intelligence agencies was less than ideal. For example, grand jury testimony and information obtained from court-authorized FBI wiretaps often could not legally be passed on by law enforcement for use by...