William O. Douglas

“ We are simply investigating communism wherever we find it, and I think that when this series of hearings is over that no one can say that any newspaper or any employees of any one newspaper has been singled out. ”

“ That is typical of the risks a Free Society runs. The alternative is governmental oversight, governmental investigation, governmental questioning, governmental harassment, governmental exposure for exposure's sake. Once we crossed that line, we would sacrifice the values of a Free Society for one that has a totalitarian cast. ”

“ But I would like to have the position of the committee, if it be the position of the majority of this committee, since the committee has not met to determine whether one policy or another is to be pursued in the course of these hearings-that it be generally known and understood that this is not an attack upon any one newspaper, upon any group of newspapers as such, but an effort on the part of this committee to show such participation and such attempt as may be disclosed on the part of the Communist Party in the United States or elsewhere, indeed, to influence or to subvert the American press. ”

“ The power to investigate is limited to a valid legislative function. Inquiry is precluded where the matter investigated is one on which 'no valid legislation' can be enacted. Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 U.S. 168, 195, 26 L.Ed. 377. Since the First Amendment provides that 'Congress shall make no law * * * abridging the freedom * * * of the press,' this present investigation was plainly unconstitutional. ”

“ While it is true that there is no statute to be reviewed, and that an investigation is not a law, nevertheless an investigation is part of lawmaking. It is justified solely as an adjunct to the legislative process. The First Amendment may be invoked against infringement of the protected freedoms by law or by law making.'
Under our system of government, I do not see how it is possible for Congress to pass a law saying whom a newspaper or news agency or magazine shall or shall not employ. If this power exists, it can reach the rightist as well as the leftist press, as United States v. ”

“ Some think a certain leeway is necessary or desirable, leaving it to the judiciary to curb what judges may from time to time think are excessive practices. Thus, a judge with a professorial background may put the classroom in a preferred position. ”