Hugo Black

“ No nation can remain true to the ideal of liberty under law and at the same time permit people to have their homes destroyed and their lives blasted by the slurs of unseen and unsworn informers. There is no possible way to contest the truthfulness of anonymous accusations. ”

“ The supposed accuser can neither be identified nor interrogated. He may be the most worthless and irresponsible character in the community. What he said may be wholly malicious, untrue, unreliable, or inaccurately reported. In a court of law the triers of fact could not even listent to such gossip, must less decide the most trifling issue on it.
The Court today is not content with allowing exile on the basis of anonymous gossip. It holds that the hearing officer who condemned Jay could act in his 'unfettered discretion,' subject only to review by the Board of Immigration Appeals. ”

“ But the core of our constitutional system is that individual liberty must never be taken away by shortcuts, that fair trials in independent courts must never the dispensed with. That system is in grave danger. This case emphasizes that fact. Prosecution of any sort on anonymous information is still too dangerous, just as it was when Trajan rejected it nearly two thousand years ago. ”

“ Article III of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights intend that people [4] shall not have valuable rights and privileges taken away from them by government unless the deprivation occurs after some kind of court proceeding where witnesses can be confronted and questioned and where the public can know that the rights of individuals are being protected. ”

“ Unfortunately, this case is not the first one in recent years where arbitrary power has been approved and where anonymous information has been used to take away vital rights and privileges of people. [5] The Court disposes of what has been done to Jay to its satisfaction by saying that his right to stay here if he proves he is a good citizen 'comes as an act of grace,' like 'probation or suspension of criminal sentence.' But probation and suspension of criminal sentence come only after conviction of crime. ”

“ It is for this past Communist membership, wholly legal when it existed, that Jay has been ordered deported. [1]
Even though an alien has been found to be deportable, Congress has provided a procedure which he can invoke to have his deportation suspended. 66 Stat. 163, 214-216, 8 U.S.C. §§ 1254 (a) (5) , 1254 (c) , 8 U.S.C.A. § 1254 (a) (5) , (c) . He is entitled to suspension 'in the discretion' of the Attorney General if he 'proves' that during the preceding 10 years he has been a person of good moral character and if deportation would result in exceptional and unusual hardship. ”

“ Of course the Court refers to the Attorney General's 'unfettered discretion,' but participation of the Attorney General in this case is a fiction. The Court concedes in Note 8 of its opinion that the Attorney General does not personally exercise discretion in these cases. ”