Bust May Come Before March

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 21-Official Washington's resistance to Vietnam Veterans Against the War grew markedly today as the full Supreme Court affirmed Chief Justice Warren Burger's decision to deny camping rights on the Capitol Mall to the now 1500 vets.

At the same time, quietly growing anger over the denial of camping rights, coupled with the arrest of seven veterans at the Supreme Court and continued closed doors to lobbying efforts, made the vets decide to resist nonviolently any attempts to remove them from the grounds.

In a decision announced to the vets by attorney Ramsey Clark at 5:10 p.m. this afternoon, the Court forbade the vets to "engage in any form of overnight camping from 4:30 p.m. to 9:30 a.m. on National Park grounds." Camping was defined by the court as any activity which included sleeping, lying in, on, or under bedding, making fires, constructing shelters, digging, or cooking.

The original order banning camping was sought by the Justice Department on the grounds that it "would set a precedent" for other protest groups planning to arrive in the coming week. The Department also argued that campingwould bring about "serious problems in maintaining public order and could lead to substantial health and sanitary hazards, with inevitable environmental pollution."

Following Clark's announcement of the decision, the vets met in state and regional groups and voted overwhelmingly to stay on the Mall and sleep. The two alternatives discussed by the vets were either to remain awake throughout the night-in obedience to the court order-or to defy the order.

Earlier in the afternoon, seven vets and four supporters were arrested in the Supreme Court Building. According to eyewitnesses, the group had entered the courthouse as spectators, and when the Court adjourned for its noon recess, they sat down in the hallway and refused to leave until the Court ruled on the constitutionality of the war. The eleven, including Mark Lane, author of Rush to Judgement, were charged with illegal entry.

In another incident at the Court, a nineteen-year-old Alexandria, Va., man was ejected from the Supreme Court chambers for wearing a button supporting the VVAW. He was asked to take off the button, but refused, and as police escorted him away, raised his hand toward Burger, saying "Please support the veterans." He was released outside.

Today's vet activities included more guerrilla theatre "search and destroy missions" and lobbying, but number of vets expressed increasing frustration in talks with Congressmen and Senators. "They just aren't listening to us and when they do, it's with a political motive-they refuse to lay themselves on the line," said Joe Campbell, former Marine from Detroit.

While the majority of Congressmen have displayed little interest in what the vets have to say, a number of liberal Congressmen expressed solidarity with them at the meeting tonight at which Clark delivered the Court decision.

Among those Congressmen were Bella S. Abzug (D-N.Y.). Shirley Chisolm (D-N.Y.). Ron Dellums (D-Calif.), and Father Robert Drinan (D-Mass.). Twenty-five Congressmen also signed a statement offering the vets their offices overnight in the event of a police eviction.

Speculation on the likelihood of a bust has been rampant at the Mall, although the government has given assurances a bust will not occur tonight. However, many observers have indicated that if the government is to establish a precendent to keep this Saturday's and later demonstrations out of the parks, the vets will have to be removed.