Another Supreme Court decision saved Hawaii's "Reluctant 39" last week. Mostly members of Harry Bridges' longshoremen's union, the 39 had been indicted for contempt of Congress after they refused to tell a House Un-American Activities subcommittee whether they were, or ever had been, Communists. They took refuge in the Fifth Amendment, which provides that no one has to answer a question which might be self-incriminating.
The Court had already decided, in the similar case of Patricia Blau, that Mrs. Blau was within her rights in refusing to answer grand jury questions about Red activities. They agreed that she might lay herself open...
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