Furry, Kamin Lawyers Give Briefs Today

Lawyers for Wendell H. Furry, associate professor of Physics, and Leon J. Kamin '49, former research assistant in Social Relations, will present briefs today supporting a motion to dismiss the contempt of Congress indictments returned against their clients in December.

The two attorneys, Gerald A. Berlin and Calvin P. Bartlett, will present separate briefs to Judge Bailey Aldrich '28. Their arguments will become public as soon as they are field.

The defense of Furry will probably not be based on the First Amendment, which guarantees the right of free speech and association. Berlin said in December he will maintain that the questions Furry refused to answer before the Senate Permanent Investigating Subcommittee in January 1954 were irrelevant to the ostensible purpose of the hearing, an inquiry into communism in defense plants.

McCarthy Claimed "Unauthorized"

Berlin may also claim that Senator Joseph R. McCarthy's Government Operations Committee was not authorized to investigate areas outside the government itself.

Bartlett has not discussed the arguments he will use or if there is any similarity between his client's case and Furry's.

Berlin and Bartlett have been preparing their cases for two months, after Judge Aldrich granted them the time on Jan. 4, with the U.S. attorney's approval. This was done in view of what the two lawyers called "the important Constitutional issues involved." The government will have until April 4 to answer. Oral arguments are scheduled for April 25, instead of April 18, as originally planned.

Beriln, who had said he might work with a special counsel, said yesterday he had prepared the brief alone, but that he might need help during the trial.