Douglas charged with 'fomenting rebellion'
Coalition asks impeachment committee
WASHINGTON (UPI) — A bi-partisan conservative coalition of 105 House members Thursday proposed creation of a special committee to consider impeaching Associate Justice William O. Douglas on charges ranging from "fomenting rebellion" to "writing for a lewd magazine."
Rep. Emanuel Celler, chairman of the House Judiary Committee, sought to head off the impeachment move in advance by announcing his committee would meet privately next Tuesday to consider a simple impeachment motion submitted by Rep. Andrew Jacobs, D-Ind.
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Jacobs, a committee member and a liberal like Celler, claimed no bias for or against Douglas. Celler's announcement was viewed as an attempt to take over the impeachment drive that key House members agreed privately was likely to succeed
The conservatives' call for a special committee would mean bypassing Celler's committee and going to the House Rules Committee, which has jurisdiction over creation of special committees.
Celler's legal views are similar to those expressed by Douglas in his frequent defense—often in minority opinions—of the rights of individuals over those of the state. The conservatives believe
any inquiry headed by Celler would be a whitewash.
If voted by the House, an impeachment — the parliamentary equivalent of an idictment—would be tried by the Senate, with a two-thirds majority required for conviction. Even House sponsors of the impeachment drive doubted the Senate would vote to convict and thus remove Douglas from the Supreme Court.
But the pro-impeachment forces believe that under the chairmanship of Rep. William M. Colmer, D-Miss., the Rules Committee would at least provide a forum for thorough airing of their charges against Douglas.
The impeachment campaign was begun by House GOP leader
Gerald R. Ford of Michigan during the controversy over Judge Clement F. Haynsworth's nomination to the Supreme Court and reached a high point Wednesday, after Judge G. Harrold Carswell's defeat for the same court vacancy, when Ford made his charges against Douglas.
Subsequently, an impeachment resolution was introduced by 53 Democrats, mostly Southerners, and 52 Republicans.
Among its charges were that Douglas had performed legal services in violation of law for a charitable foundation from which he took a $12,000 annual salary as president.
Another charge was that Douglas had accepted a $350 fee for an article in a magazine whose
publisher later came before the high court in an appeal from a libel judgment against another of his publications. Douglas did not disqualify himself in this ruling.
Damage estimate for Gambles set
Fire Chief F. C. Sanders of the Lawrence Fire Department said Thursday that damage estimates of the Gambles store that was gutted by fire Wednesday night were set at $200,000. He said no exact cause for the blaze has been found, but further information is expected by the end of the week.