William O. Douglas

“ Kinsey reported:
'It is not possible to insist that any departure from the sexual mores, or any participation in socially taboo activities, always, or even usually, involves a neurosis or psychosis, for the case histories abundantly demonstrate that most individuals who engage in taboo activities make satisfactory social adjustments. There are, in actuality, few adult males who are particularly disturbed over their sexual histories. ”

“ The Senate subcommittee which had been charged with making an investigation of the immigration laws concluded that 'the exclusion of persons with 'constitutional psychopathic inferiority' was aimed at keeping out of the country aliens with a propensity to mental aberration, those with an inherent likelihood of becoming mental cases, as indicated by their case history.' Ibid. ”

“ In actuality, they are more often expressions of what is biologically basic in mammalian and anthropoid behavior, and of a deliberate disregard for social convention. Many of the socially and intellectually most significant persons in our histories, successful scientists, educators, physicians, clergymen, business men, and persons of high position in governmental affairs, have socially taboo items in their sexual histories, and among them they have accepted nearly the whole range of so-called sexual abnormalities. ”

“ Among the socially most successful and personally best adjusted persons who have contributed to the present study, there are some whose rates of outlet are as high as those in any case labelled nymphomania or satyriasis in the literature, or recognized as such in the clinic.' Kinsey, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male 201-202 (1948) .
It is common knowledge that in this century homosexuals have risen high in our own public service-both in Congress and in the Executive Branch-and have served with distinction. ”

“ This legislative history indicates that the term 'afflicted with psychopathic personality' was used in a medical sense and was meant to refer to lifelong patterns of action that are pathologic and symptomatic of grave underlying neurosis or psychosis. Homosexuality and sex perversion, as a subclass, are limited to the same afflictions.
Notes
↑ 'Homosexual activity in the human male is much more frequent than is ordinarily realized * * *. In the youngest unmarried group, more than a quarter (27.3%) of the males have some homosexual activity to the point of orgasm * * *. ”

“ The sponsors of Britain's current reform bill on homosexuality have indicated that one male in 25 is a homosexual in Britain. [2] To label a group so large 'excludable aliens' would be tantamount to saying that Sappho, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Andre Gide, and perhaps even Shakespeare, were they to come to life again, would be deemed unfit to visit our shores. ”

“ Occasional acts would not seem sufficient. 'Afflicted' means a way of life, an accustomed pattern of conduct. Whatever disagreement there is as to the meaning of 'psychopathic personality,' it has generally been understood to refer to a consistent, lifelong pattern of behavior conflicting with social norms without accompanying guilt. ”

“ The term 'psychopathic personality' is a treacherous one like 'communist' or in an earlier day 'Bolshevik.' A label of this kind when freely used may mean only an unpopular person. It is much too vague by constitutional standards for the imposition of penalties or punishment. ”

“ DeGeorge, 341 U.S. 223, 71 S.Ct. 703, 95 L.Ed. 886, that the crime of a conspiracy to defraud the United States of taxes involved 'moral turpitude' and made the person subject to deportation. That, however, was a term that has 'deep roots in the law.' Id., at 227, 71 S.Ct. at 705. But the grab bag 'psychopathic personality'-has no 'deep roots' whatsoever. [5] Caprice of judgment is almost certain under this broad definition. Anyone can be caught who is unpopular, who is off-beat, who is nonconformist.
Deportation is the equivalent to banishment or exile. ”

“ The Public Health Service, from whom Congress borrowed the term 'psychopathic personality' (H.R.Rep. No. 1365, 82d Cong., 2d Sess., 46-47, U.S.Code Cong. & Admin. News 1952, p. 1653) admits that the term is 'vague and indefinite.' Id., at 46.
If we are to hold, as the Court apparently does, that any acts of homosexuality suffice to deport the alien, whether or not they are part of a fabric of antisocial behavior, then we face a serious question of due process. By that construction a person is judged by a standard that is almost incapable of definition. ”

“ He feels as if he has made his life in this country and is deeply disturbed at the prospect of being cut off from the life he has created for himself. He talks frankly about himself. What emerged out of the interview was not a picture of a psychopath but that of a dependent, immature young man with a conscience, an awareness of the feelings of others and a sense of personal honesty. ”

“ They are, for the most part, unhappy persons harassed by tension and anxiety, who are struggling against unconscious conflicts which were created during the very early years of childhood. The nature and even the existence of these conflicts which drive them restlessly on are unknown to them. When the anxiety rises to a certain pitch, they seek relief through some antisocial act. ”

“ Individuals with such a disorder may manifest a disturbance of intrinsic personality patterns, exaggerated personality trends, or are persons ill primarily in terms of society and the prevailing culture. The latter or sociopathic reaction a re frequently symptomatic of a severe underlying neurosis of psychosis and frequently include those groups of individuals suffering from addiction or sexual deviation.' U.S.Code Cong. ”

“ They demand that the standard be sufficiently clear as to forewarn those who may otherwise be entrapped and to provide full opportunity to conform. 'Psychopathic personality' is so broad and vague as to be hardly more than an epithet. ”

“ His homosexual orientation seems secondary to a very constricted, dependent personality pattern rather than occurring in the context of a psychopathic personality. My own feeling is that his own need to fit in and be accepted is so great that it far surpasse h is need for sex in any form. ”