Word: mccarranism
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...national origins" quota system created in 1924. It was designed to reflect the U.S. population makeup as of 1920 and heavily favored North European nations, while offering only the stingiest quotas to other parts of the world. Despite all the hysterical criticism that comes its way, the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952 actually liberalized the quota system, particularly for Orientals...
...SACB was established by the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950 (the McCarran Act) which was passed over President Truman's veto during the early McCarthy era and the Korean War. This legislation empowers the attorney-general to order "Communist-action," "communist-front," and "Communist infiltrated" organizations to register as such with his office...
...dangers of the SCAB's powers are multifold and its benefits to internal security are imperceptible. As the courts have already held in the case of the Communist Party itself, the McCarran Act is a patent violation of the Fifth Amendment. This logic clearly should protect any organization or any individuals that the SACB might order to register...
...deems to be of a Communist nature. Then, whether or not this person has actually committed espionage or any other illegal act, he can be forced to register (and suffer the consequences) or can be penalized by the courts for not registering. In the words of Justice Black, the McCarran Act is "a classical bill of attainder which our Constitution in two places prohibits, for it is a legislative act that inflicts pains, penalties and punishments in a number of ways without a judicial trial...
...order to determine whether or not a group is of a "Communist" nature, the McCarran Act expressly instructs the SACB to examine "the extent to which the positions taken or advanced by it from time to time on matters of policy do not deviate from those of any Communist-action organization..." This sort of guilt-by-parallelism stigmatizes liberal views which sometimes do coincide with the views of Communists. Such legislation, which forces groups to look over their shoulders to see if Communists are agreeing with them, can only serve to paralyze progressive thought...