William O. Douglas

“ We cannot assume that Congress meant to employ the term 'affiliation' in a broad, fluid sense which would visit such hardship on an alien for slight or insubstantial reasons. It is clear that Congress desired to have the country rid of those aliens who embraced the political faith of force and violence. But we cannot believe that Congress intended to cast so wide a net as to reach those whose ideas and program, though coinciding with the legitimate aims of such groups, nevertheless fell far short of overthrowing the government by force and violence. ”

“ Seldom if ever in the history of this nation has there been such a concentrated and relentless crusade to deport an individual because he dared to exercise the freedom that belongs to him as a human being and that is guaranteed to him by the Constitution.
For more than a decade powerful economic and social forces have combined with public and private agencies to seek the deportation of Harry Bridges, who came to this country in 1920 from Australia. ”

“ It is no answer that a deportation proceeding is technically non-criminal in nature and that a deportable alien is not adjudged guilty of a 'crime.' Those are over-subtle niceties that shed their significance when we are concerned with safeguarding the ideals of the Bill of Rights. The impact of deportation upon the life of an alien is often as great if not greater than the imposition of a criminal sentence. A deported alien may lose his family, his friends and his livelihood forever, Return to his native land may result in poverty, persecution and even death. ”

“ Not the slightest evidence was introduced to show that either Bridges or the Communist Party seriously and imminently threatens to uproot the Government by force or violence.
Deportation, with all its grave consequences, should not be sanctioned on such weak and unconvincing proof of a real and imminent threat to our national security. Congress has ample power to protect the United States from internal revolution and anarchy without abandoning the ideals of freedom and tolerance. ”

“ The deportation statute completely ignores the traditional American doctrine requiring personal guilt rather than guilt by association or imputation before a penalty or punishment is inflicted.
The statute does not require that an alien, to be deportable, must personally advocate or believe in the forceful overthrow of the Government. It is enough if he is a member or an affiliate of an organization which advocates such a doctrine. ”

“ Here the liberty of an individual is at stake. Highly incriminating statements are used against him-statements which were unsworn and which under the governing regulations are inadmissible. We are dealing here with procedural requirements prescribed for the protection of the alien. Though deportation is not technically a criminal proceeding, it visits a great hardship on the individual and deprives him of the right to stay and live and work in this land of freedom. ”

“ Whenever a recorded statement is to be obtained from a person under investigation, he shall be warned that any statement made by him may be used as evidence in any subsequent proceeding.' And Rule 150.6 (i) provides in part: 'A recorded statement made by the alien (other than a General Information Form) or by any other person during an investigation may be received in evidence only if the maker of such statement is unavailable or refuses to testify at the warrant hearing or gives testimony contradicting the statements made during the investigation.'
O'Neil was a government witness. ”

“ It matters not that an alien member never knew or understood the organization's illegal aim or that he may have resigned in protest upon learning of it. It appears to be enough that the organization at one time advocated the unlawful doctrine and that the alien was a member or affiliate at some time in the past, even if for no longer than one minute. 86 Cong.Rec. 9032. It is not even clear that the organization's advocacy of violent revolution and an alien's membership or affiliation must coincide in point of time. Such a statute fails to satisfy any rational or realistic test. ”

“ The rules are designed to protect the interests of the alien and to afford him due process of law. It is the action of the deciding body, not the recommendation of the inspector, which determines whether the alien will be deported. The rules afford protection at that crucial stage of the proceedings or not at all. The person to whom the power to deport has been entrusted is the Attorney General or such agency as he designates. 8 U.S.C. § 155, 8 U.S.C.A. § 155. He is an original trier of fact on the whole record. It is his decision to deport an alien that Congress has made 'final'. ”

“ The Bill of Rights is a futile authority for the alien seeking admission for the first time to these shores. But once an alien lawfully enters and resides in this country he becomes invested with the rights guaranteed by the Constitution to all people within our borders. ”

“ Under our Constitution and laws, Congress has its functions, the Attorney General his, and the courts theirs in regard to the deportation of aliens. Our function is a very limited one. In this case our decision turns on the application of the long settled rule that in reviewing the fact findings of administrative officers or agencies, courts are without authority to set aside their findings if they are supported by evidence. ”

“ He must be more than merely in sympathy with its aims or even willing to aid it in a casual intermittent way. Affiliation includes an element of dependability upon which the organization can rely which, though not equivalent to membership duty, does rest upon a course of conduct that could not be abruptly ended without giving at least reasonable cause for the charge of a breach of good faith.' The same idea was expressed by Dean Landis in the first Bridges' report. ”

“ The Attorney General, after a like separate examination of the Lundeberg and O'Neil evidence, made it perfectly clear that he accepted Judge Sears' findings as to each. He too said that the question as to each witness was a matter of his credibility, and that he believed the witness, rather than petitioner, because on this point he accepted Judge Sears' finding that they, and not Bridges, were to be believed. ”

“ As we are of opinion that the finding of Bridges' membership in the Communist Party, standing alone, supports the deportation order, and that the finding is supported by evidence, we deem it unnecessary to consider other contentions to which the Court's opinion is principally directed. ”

“ In other words, as the Government has urged before us, the deportation power of Congress 'is unaffected by considerations which in other contexts might justify the striking down of legislation as an abridgment of constitutionally guaranteed rights of free speech and association.' From this premise it follows that Congress may constitutionally deport aliens for whatever reasons it may choose, limited only by the due process requirement of a fair hearing. ”

“ After stating that 'affiliation' implies a 'stronger bond' than 'association', he went on to say: 'In the corporate field its use embraces not the casual affinity of an occasional similarity of objective, but ties and connections that, though less than that complete control which parent possesses over subsidiary, are nevertheless sufficient to create a continuing relationship that embraces both units within the concept of a system. ”

“ The purpose of securing recorded statements is obviously to preserve evidence in a readily available form, and to insure that before a warrant of arrest is issued, there is credible evidence that the person investigated is an alien and is subject to deportation. ”

“ But he who cooperates with such an organization only in its wholly lawful activities cannot by that fact be said as a matter of law to be 'affiliated' with it. Nor is it conclusive that the cooperation was more than intermittent and showed a rather consistent course of conduct. Common sense indicates that the term 'affiliation' in this setting should be construed more narrowly. Individuals, like nations, may cooperate in a common cause over a period of months or years though their ultimate aims do not coincide. Alliances for limited objectives are well known. ”

“ An act innocent on its face may be done with an evil purpose. But where the fate of a human being is at stake the presence of the evil purpose may not be left to conjecture. In these habeas corpus proceedings we do not review the evidence beyond ascertaining that there is some evidence to support the deportation order. ”

“ That deportation is a penalty-at times a most serious one-cannot be doubted. Meticulous care must be exercised lest the procedure by which he is deprived of that liberty not meet the essential standards of fairness.
On the record before us it is clear that the use of O'Neil's ex parte statements was highly prejudicial. Those unsworn statements of O'Neil and the testimony of one Lundeberg were accepted by the Attorney General as showing that Bridges was a member of the Communist party. ”

“ In the field of eleemosynary and political organization the same basic idea prevails.' And he concluded: 'Persons engaged in bitter industrial struggles tend to seek help and assistance from every available source. But the intermittent solicitation and acceptance of such help must be shown to have ripened into those bonds of mutual cooperation and alliance that entail continuing reciprocal duties and responsibilities before they can be deemed to come within the statutory requirement of affiliation. ”

“ Certainly those who joined forces with Russia to defeat the Nazis may not be said to have made an alliance to spread the cause of Communism. An individual who makes contributions to feed hungry men does not become 'affiliated' with the Communist cause because those men are Communists. ”

“ The liberties of the 3,500,000 other aliens in this nation are also at stake. Many of these aliens, like many of our forebears, were driven from their original homelands by bigoted authorities who denied the existence of freedom and tolerance. ”

“ Vajtauer v. Commissioner of Immigration, supra, 273 U.S. 106, 47 S.Ct. 304, 71 L.Ed. 560, more than in other administrative proceedings. Consolidated Edison Co. v. Labor Board, 305 U.S. 197, 229, 230, 59 S.Ct. ”