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NATIONAL PRESS BUILDING   · WASHINGTON, D. C.
VOL. 1 NOVEMBER,1935 D N0. 4
I THE END OF ANOTHER NEW DEAL "EXPERIMENT"
The outcome of the attempt·to curtail free speech as exercised by the National Lawyers
Committee of the American Llberty League 1s related in an Associated Press dispatch from
Columbus, Ohio, excerpts from which followi
{ "COLUMBUS, Ohio, Nov. 17. — The American Bar Assoc1at1on's standing committee
on professional ethics and grievances held today that the American Liberty League's
national lawyer's committee violated no canon of legal ethics in offering free
legal services to citizens wfthout funds to defend their constitutional rights.
"'All that they (the Liberty League's national lawyers' committee) have offer-
ed,"sa1d the op1n1on, *1s thelr experience and skill "1f and when any American _
_ citizen, however humble, is without means to defend his constitutional rights in a _
`court of just1ce." The committee is unable to see anything unethical or lmproper° I
in such a course.* ........... ’ " ‘ · ‘
4 "The bar comm1ttee's opinion stated, in part: A . ·
""'The question divides itself 1nto two subheads, the rendering of servfces I i _
of the(league) committee or the members thereof without compensation in defense ‘ O
of American citizens who believe their constitutional rights to be 1mper1led.....
and the publication of a proffer of such service by radio broadcast, distribution
of pamphlets or otherwise. _ ` . I `
i" Iwtf-As to the first of these questlens there would seem to be no doubt. Thend TOO GW
defense of indigent citizens without compensation is carried on throughout the
country.' ........ _ V _
"The committee further held that 'thls proffer of serv1ce,' even when broad- R
_ _ cast over the radio, 'does not offend the ethical code ......... ` `
"'A nation is at its safest when its most eminent citizens are lmbued with
sufficient patriotism to interest themselves 1n the public welfare, even at great
sacrifice to their private affa1rs.'" `
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When the American Liberty League made public the first report from the National Law--
yers Committee, which report expressed the opinion that the Natfonal Labor Relations Act
1s unconstitutional, the Honorable Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of the Interior and spokes-
man for the administration, declared this action to be "a gross 1mpert1nence" and "an v
evidence per se of disrespect for the Supreme Court." A