March 17, 1943

Dear Mr. Ernst:

I hope you will pardon me for not giving you a more prompt reply to your letter of the 6th. My secretary has been ill and away and I have been overwhelmed with work and in consequence am buried with unanswered correspondence.

I am somewhat in doubt about the part which I should take in a program such as your letter proposes. I am even more circumscribed than the Lord Chancellor, who holds a political office and is permitted on occasions to speak on political subjects. My office is completely severed from every political interest and, as you probably know, I have rather leaned over backwards to avoid contacts which might be regarded as political even though they are not so in fact.

It seems to me that such a statement might well emanate from Bar Associations here and in England -- in fact, there is a committee of the American Bar Association which has done valiant work in extending the protection of the first amendment. They have written valuable briefs in several free speech cases which have been before our Court. It seems to me they might well take the laboring oar and put out a joint statement with some English Bar group.

On the whole, civil liberties have thrived during the war both in and out of court, and there is a good deal to be said about it, although I do not know quite how such a body could speak of the internment of our Japanese citizens. The mention of that subject makes it evident why I could not take an active part in any pronouncement, although perhaps I could invite a selected number of lawyers to take upon themselves the responsibility for making a joint statement with a similarly selected group of English lawyers. I will think it over and let you know, and I will also be glad to have any further suggestions which occur to you in view of what I have said.

Yours sincerely,

Harlan F. Stone.

Morris L. Ernst, Esq.
285 Madison Avenue
New York City