Two Professors Endorse Brownell

Two professors here last night endorsed Attorney General Herbert Browneill's new plan to grant immunity to balky congressional witnesses.

Arthur E. Sutherland, professor of Law, and Robert G. McCloskey, associate professor of Government, have come out in favor of legislation that would give Brownell as Attorney General the power to grant immunity. If a witness then refused to testify, he could face imprisonment for contempt of Congress. This plan was suggested by Brownell for the first time yesterday at the National Press Club.

Along with it came the announcement that President Eisenhower and authorized the heads of the departments of state to fire any Federal employee who refused to testify before a congressional investigating committee on grounds of self incrimination.

"The Fifth Amendment must not be looked at exclusively in the light of the Communist problem," Sutherland cautioned. He added that because of the "overuse" of the Amendment a new immunity law would probably aid the efficiency of congressional investigations.

McCloskey noted that while the Fifth Amendment might seem unworkable, it was still the law of the land, and people should not be punished for exercising their constitutional rights. Rather, the law should be changed if unworkable.