The film, Bridge of Spies, is about so much more than attorney James B. Donavon’s defense of Soviet spy, Rudolph Abel.
It is about the core principles that sustain our form of government that protects freedom and justice for all.
Donavon had managed to get an appeal of his client’s conviction heard by the Supreme Court. At issue was whether or not Abel’s Fourth Amendment right against illegal search and seizure had been violated given the fact that the FBI had not obtained a warrant to enter his hotel room.
Donavon asked that all evidence seized in the warrantless FBI search be thrown out. He concluded his argument before the Court by saying:
“Abel is an alien charged with the capital offense of Soviet espionage. It may seem anomalous that our Constitutional guarantees protect such a man. The unthinking may view America’s conscientious adherence to the principles of a free society as an altruism so scrupulous that self-destruction must result. Yet our principles are engraved in the history and the law of the land. If the free world is not faithful to its own moral code, there remains no society for which others may hunger.”
Both the eloquence and brilliance of his words inspire me.
Not because I want people like Abel protected, but because people like Donavon understand as others often don’t that a free nation remains so only if it chooses without exception to honor the fundamental moral and legal tenets upon which it was founded.
Given the times, as expected, the Court rejected his appeal in a 5-4 decision.
In his dissenting opinion Justice William Douglas underscored the constitutional argument Donavon was making: “How much more convenient it is for the police to find a way around those specific requirements of the Fourth Amendment! What a hindrance it is to work laboriously through constitutional procedures!”
Indeed, “what a hindrance it is to work laboriously through constitutional procedures!”
How easy it was in 1957 for Americans to support the suspension of constitutional principles in trying a suspected Soviet Spy.
After all, we were locked in a “cold war” with the Soviets and, thanks to Senator Joe McCarthy, the American public living in the grips of an irrational fear that there was a Communist behind every tree.
Replace “Communist” with “terrorist” and ask yourself if what was going on in 1957 sounds eerily familiar.
Apple verses the FBI comes to mind.
So does water boarding.
So does the action of Attorney General John Ashcroft who right after 9/11 illegally authorized the use of material witness warrants for immigration violations, ironically very similar to what happened in the Abel case.
His order resulted in 762 people being seized and detained, but not one ever being convicted of anything.
That’s what happens when a nation lives in fear. Citizens accept ineffective, sometime dangerous, and usually unconstitutional government actions by saying, “Well, if it keeps us safe,” as if suspending the Constitution poses no danger to our way of life.
Making matters worse, I believe, is the fact that in our current political environment anger at the world seems to be adding fuel to already irrational fears, creating a perfect storm of emotions with all the potential of leading to our ruin as a people.
After seeing Bridge of Spies I spent a couple of hours reading about the Abel case.
The more I read the more alarmed I became, not because of what happened then, but because of what is happening now.
Just how unthinking might we as Americans be in regard to our nation’s “conscientious adherence to the principles of a free society.”
Indeed, how unthinking might we be?
linnposts.com 
Great post, Jan.
While we are distracted by pop culture, our Justice Department lawyers have argued repeatedly that the 4th Amendment should be limited, and the Supreme Court has often agreed. The Supreme Court denied constitutional protection to information voluntarily turned over to third parties. The government argues this permits warrantless collection of, among other things, information about Web visits, phone calls, location, and banking data. Further, the Supreme Court has said that Fourth Amendment protections don’t apply in all places or at all times. For example, U.S. borders have become Constitution-free zones. The Department of Homeland Security has decided that the border consists of all land and sea boundaries, and extends out for 100 miles, placing the majority of the U.S. population within that region. The government argues that nothing that occurs in public is actually a search. Public-space surveillance has been traditionally limited by available resources. But new technology like GPS tracking makes it easy to surreptitiously monitor a person’s location and activities in public.
Meanwhile, back to The Oscars…
All of that and many Americans think that if you haven’t done anything wrong you have nothing to worry about. Just the kind of thinking that makes the public submissive.
There are people running for office today that seem to understand our fears and are brillianty exploiting them. One of my beloved scriptures is “Perfect love casts out all fear.” We have forgotten love and have become hateful or, even worse, indifferent to the plight of our neighbors.
There was a time when I would have never described our country as hateful and mean-spiritedness. Now I think those words accurately identify what we have become. Thanks, Steve.
What you’ve written, Jan, made me think of the following lines from Robert Bolt’s play “A Man for all Seasons”, in which the hero, Sir Thomas More and his protege William Roper catch a would-be spy and then let him go, as there are no legal grounds for any kind of prosecution.
Roper: “I’d cut down the law to get at the Devil if need be!”
More: “Oh, and when every law is down and the Devil smiles at you, where will you hide, Roper, the laws being flat. This country is forested thick with laws, and if you cut them down, would you be able to stand upright in the winds that would blow then? No, Roper. I would be willing to give even the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake”.
Four centuries after his execution in 1535 for refusal to acknowledge Henry VIII’s title of Head of the Church in England, More was declared a saint, and is revered today by the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, he was also a man of his time, and in his period in office as Lord Chancellor, he was an assiduous hunter down and burner of heretics. Even so, both your country and mine have need of people of such integrity as his.
Nigel, you are a learned man and provide wisdom with every comment you make. Thank you.
As someone who took and failed a Law degree some forty years ago, I think I’d rather describe myself as ‘knowledgeable, but not brilliant’.
But thank you, Jan, just the same.
Yes..the film was a powerful message for our times.. Like RACE, another attempt to speak truth to power.
I’m afraid a large portion of the population has lost the way, far worse than we have dreamed possible.
Sadly, Liza, I have to agree. We seem to have entered a dark tunnel as a nation, and if there is a light at the end of it, it is very far away.
An excellent, timely post, Jan. B. Franklin wrote: “They that can give up essential liberty for a little temporary security deserve neither liberty nor safety.?
Cheerz!
I love that quite, Gene. Thanks for posting it.