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30 Seattle U. L. Rev. 65 (2006-2007)
Designating the Dangerous: From Blacklists to Watch Lists

handle is hein.journals/sealr30 and id is 73 raw text is: Designating the Dangerous: From Blacklists to Watch Lists Daniel J. Steinbockt I. INTRODUCTION Ring Lardner, Jr. was one of the Hollywood Ten, a group of screenwriters cited for contempt of Congress in 1947 for refusing to an- swer the question: Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?' He eventually served nine months in federal prison for contempt of Congress, but as soon as he refused to testify, he was placed on a blacklist-the widespread refusal by film, radio, and televi- sion producers to hire real or suspected Communists. Blacklisting, along with the dismissals or denial of employment as a result of loyalty and security investigations, truncated or distorted thousands of careers and was an integral part of the late 1940s and 1950s period of national suspi- cion that is now often referred to as the McCarthy era.,2 Lardner him- self suffered professionally and financially for years, but he gradually recovered his career, first by writing under pseudonyms, and then, fi- nally, in his own right. His refusal to name names ultimately led to his t Harold A. Anderson Professor of Law and Values, University of Toledo College of Law. B.A., J.D., Yale University. The author greatly appreciates the comments, and particularly the historical perspective, of Rhoda Berkowitz and Joseph Slater and the contribution of David A. Harris. Travis Shackelford and Dan Henry provided valuable research assistance. The financial support of the Harold A. Anderson Professorship is gratefully acknowledged. Careful readers may notice the difference in word formation for the two kinds of lists discussed in this article: blacklists and watch lists. Over time, the name for the 1950s lists of suspected Communists came to be expressed in one word. That has not (yet) happened for present day compi- lations of suspected terrorists. A search of the Westlaw law journal database reveals that watch list out-numbers watchlist by a ratio of over 10:1 in law journals. This Article follows the majority practice for both terms, producing non-parallel usage. I. RING LARDNER, JR., I'D HATE MYSELF IN THE MORNING 2-3, 8-9 (2000). 2. The McCarthy era is named after Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, who investigated and claimed to find Communists in influential positions in American society.

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