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?
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