SUt'4N6R. 7 Cs 2 S!(TVi YI~3U G t&)cAROUP12 -WWOPMI r 6t "[CTh.X5 TRk. 1 -roP&MK) C/R . g4e Air4tign ait 420 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor, Mich. Edited and managed by students at the University o Michigan Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of the author. This must be noted in all reprints. Thursday, July 1, 1971 News Phone: 764-0552 NIGHT EDITOR: LARRY LEMPERT Justice and the law TWO IMPORTANT court decisions yesterday suggest that the U.S. system of government may be better than many critics have conceded. In Washington, the Supreme Court put an end to the Nixon administration's attempt to hold back the truth about Vietnam from the people of the United States. By a decisive 6-3 vote, the court freed the Washington Post and New York Times from all restraint in publish- ing the Pentagon papers that detail U.S. involvement in Vietnam. An important precedent has been set for any future clashes between press and government. The court found that the government had failed to show any justification for restricting the two papers. "The guarding of military and diplomatic secrets at the expense of informed representative government provides no real security for our republic," explained Associate Justice Hugo Black, the senior member of the court. THE ATTACK on the freedom of the press guaranteed by the First Amendment has ended in a humiliating de- feat for Nixon and Atty. Gen. John Mitchell. Most important, it was not partisan politics, personal liberalism, or anti-war spirit that motivated the Supreme Court. It was the First Amendment, as written nearly 200 years ago. And in Detroit, there was another proof of the via- bility of at least some of the system. A jury, for once of real peers, has returned what must be considered a fair verdict in the trial of 12 Black Panthers accused of murdering a police officer and then conspiring to murder police in the siege of the Panther house that followed the slaying. THE JURY of 10 blacks and two white found all 12 defendants innocent of the murder and of the con- spiracy. The conspiracy charge was based largely on Panther literature and on the presence of weapons in the Panther house. Three Panthers were convicted of felonious assault, but they were the three who chose not to surrender and continued a shootout with police. AFTER THE TRIAL defense attorney Ernest Goodman agreed it was fair. That fairness can be directly at- tributed to an appeals court decision last year that re- formed Detroit's jury selection system. Before then, the young, the long-haired, the poor and others, often blacks, were systematically excluded. Since then, some judges and prosecutors have com- plained that it has become difficult to win cases. But the Panther trial emphasizes the possibility of fairness in, the U.S. jury system as it, was conceived., Like the Supreme Court, the Detroit jury strove to follow the law, to acquit when there was reasonable' doubt. The two cases suggest that it is often our officials, like Nixon or the prosecutor in Detroit, who are at fault, and not our laws. --MARCIA ABRAMSON Vote at 18: Register By JAMES WECHSLER ALTHOUGH high-ranking Repub- licans have publicly derided and downgraded the spreading movement to enroll young antiwar voters, they may have already be- gun to have second thoughts about the impact of the drive. Indeed the full story of what happened in Indiana in connection with the "Register for Peace" rally in Indianapolis May 22 suggests both the potential of the campaign and the desperation tactics already employed to combat it. WHAT MADE Indianapolis so important a testing-ground was that neithersthe city nor the state had previously been the scene of any major antiwar activity. That was a major reason why Ameri- cans for Democratic Action chair- man Allard Lowenstein and his associates in the anti-Nixon, peace- registration project were elated when a number of diverse groups- including some labor unions as well as many college and high school spokesmen-agreed to sponsor an assemblage there. Three weeks before the sched- uled event, an application for a permit to conduct the demonstra- tion on the State House Plaza was duly filed. For more than two weeks there was no response to re- peated inquiries. Then, just two days before the meeting was to be held, the Indi- ana committee was abruptly in- formed by Republican Gov. Edgar Whitcomb that it would have to put up a $50,000 bond and also assume unlimitedtliability forrany damage. The state police radio began broadcasting bulletins warning that any hitchhikers headed for Indianapolis would be detained un- til they received "FBI clearance." THE RALLY'S promoters knew they could not meet the proposed financial conditions. The State Di- rector of Administration moved for an injunction to enforce the terms and thwarttheicounter- moves being made by Civil Liber- ties Union attorneys. The State Supreme Court ,split 2-2 on the is- sue (and its fifth member could not be located). As the tension increased, David Allison of the Ripon Society finally brought the news that Mayor- Rich- ard Lugar had agreed informally to let the demonstrators gather in the military park 500 yards off the plaza. After three long hours of negotiation with the Mayor and the Police Chief (named Winston Churchill), the accord provided that there would be no official permit issued, but there would be tacit assurance of nonintervention - with a stipulation barring the use of obscenities or Viet Cong flags. - In fact the setting of those ground rules seemed chiefly de- signed to fortify the State Direc- tor's fraudulent charge that the movement was linked to the "May- day Tribe." THE PRE-RALLY hysteria un- doubtedly- reduced attendance; many high school delegations stayed away after the intercession of anxious parents. Nevertheless a crowd estimated at 3500 did as- semble to hear a long roster of speakers, including Charles Good- ell, Rep. William Anderson (D- Tenn.), local Democratic and UAW officials and others. What was most remarkable, however, was the response to the on-the-spot registration appeal. More than 2000 of those present signed up - a number described by local politicos as the largest single exercise of that sort ever held in the state. The registration was overwhelmingly Democratic. Perhaps even more important, as Lowenstein and 28-year-old Nick Littlefield, a Wall Street lawyer now on half-time leave to coordi- -nate the operation, emphasized yesterday, the ensuing reactions Letters to The Daily should be mailed to the Editorial Di- rector or delivered to Ma y Rafferty in the Student Pub- lications business office in the Michigan Daily building. Let- ters should be typed, double- spaced and normally sshould not exceed 250 words. The Editorial Directors reserve the right to edit all letters sub- mitted. have been warmly favorable and further rallies are being planned in that state. The "backlash" back- fired. ON THE DAY after the Indiana- polis rally, the widely-publicized Minneapolis session occurred, with for peace 25,000 jamming the local skating rink and thousands more assem- bled outside. Since registration was not permitted on the scene, the throng was urged to sign individual pledge cards promising to enroll; more than 22,000 did so. While Sen. McCarthy's qualified third-party threat won the largest headlines, the most sustained, standing ovation came, according to Littlefield, when Lowenstein de- clared: 'We are not Democrats using Republicans. We are not Repub- licans using Democrats. We. are Americans using the electoral pro- cess to end the war and reclaim this country." Other rallies are already being organized in California, Oregon and Mississippi, and few states will be overlooked in the coming months. Working with limited funds, the crusade will rely heavily on ad hoc community activities triggered by the larger events. But at least 50 full-time "interns" will work in key areas. No candidate can claim to own the enterprise; there is a concerted effort being made to secure bipar- tisan representation at the public affairs and to provide a hearing for all prospective candidates. The unifying theme is to end the war now and pave the way for the elec- tion of a progressive President. But when 3000 students can be inducd to register on a single occasion at Long Beach (Cal.) College-no hot- bed of activism-something has already begun to happen. At this juncture there is no livelier politi- cal action on any front. O New York Post I &i "Has Attorney General Mitchell OK'd these ... .