The MacIntosh Case

Judges sometimes have to make decisions, in expounding the law, which seem to the untutored layman full of unrealities. Take the case of Professor MacIntosh of Yale, just passed upon by the Supreme Court of the United States. A Canadian, he had applied for American citizenship, but naturalization was denied him because he would not take an oath to bear arms in defense of his country, under all circumstances. He wished to reserve the right to decide whether a given war was justified. That plainly involves a legal principle, but one that appears to be entirely remote from the personality of the man. He is not a conscientious objector. He is not even a thorough-going pacifist. As a matter of fact, he served with Canadian troops as a chaplain in the World War, and later with the American Army....But, according to yesterday's decision of the Supreme Court, Congress will not allow him to become an American citizen so long as he takes the oath of allegiance with a mental reservation about doing what he would in all human probability never be called upon to do.

All these considerations the Supreme Court necessarily put aside. It had to deal not with an individual man but with a general principle of law. Many had hoped that it would sustain the Circuit Court of Appeals, which had held that Dr. MacIntosh might be admitted to citizenship, on the ground that "the rights of conscience are inalienable rights which a citizen need not surrender." But the majority opinion of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Hughes strongly dissenting, is that an applicant for citizenship must be willing to support the Government in a time of war. There can be no mental reservations in taking the oath of allegiance. While it is true that this decision follows the precedent set in the case of Rosika Schwimmer, it was argued before the Supreme Court that the circumstances were different in the application of Dr. Macintosh. But all was to no avail, and the majority of the judges laid down what must now be held to be the law--that naturalization cannot be granted to an alien who professes the slightest scruple about ever doing military duty. This is the law, but whether under Chief Justice White's famous "rule of reason" it ought to be applied to a man like Professor MacIntosh is still open to doubt. New York Times.