Justices Rule ‘Dangerous’ Suspects Can Be Denied Bail : Preventive Law Upheld in 6-3 Vote

The Supreme Court, in an important victory for law enforcement officials and the Reagan Administration, ruled today that people accused of crimes may be denied bail before trial if deemed dangerous to the community.

By a 6-3 vote, the justices reinstated a federal preventive detention law in the case of two reputed Mafia leaders in New York City.

The court said the government’s interest in community safety can in some circumstances outweigh the rights of a criminal defendant--even one accused of a nonviolent crime--to remain free pending trial.

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, in his opinion for the court, said, “Congress did not formulate the pretrial detention provisions as punishment for dangerous individuals.

“Congress instead perceived pretrial detention as a potential solution to a pressing societal problem. There is no doubt that preventing danger to the community is a legitimate regulatory goal.”

Law Enacted in 1984

Congress, over an outcry from civil libertarians, enacted the preventive detention law in 1984. It received strong backing from the Reagan Administration and law enforcement authorities.

Before the new law, bail generally would be denied--at least in theory--only if a judge determined the defendant was likely to flee.

In practice, judges could get around the old law by setting very high bail, ostensibly aimed at guaranteeing the defendant’s appearance in court but with the effect of keeping the accused behind bars awaiting trial.

Rehnquist said today that the Constitution does not require that judicial decisions on bail be tied exclusively to preventing a defendant from fleeing.

The Constitution’s Eighth Amendment forbids excessive bail, he said. But, Rehnquist continued, that only means that when bail is used to restrain flight it cannot also be intended to accomplish any other purpose, such as punishing the defendant.

“We believe that when Congress has mandated detention on the basis of a compelling interest other than prevention of flight, as it has here, the Eighth Amendment does not require release on bail,” Rehnquist said.

Marshall in Dissent

In a strongly worded dissenting opinion, Justice Thurgood Marshall said laws imposing preventive detention, “consistent with the usages of tyranny and the excesses of what bitter experience teaches us to call the police state, have long been thought incompatible with the fundamental human rights protected by our Constitution.”

Also dissenting were Justices William J. Brennan and John Paul Stevens.

Today’s ruling overturned a decision last July 3 by the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City.

The appeals court ruled that Anthony (Fat Tony) Salerno, reputed boss of the Genovese crime family, and Vincent Cafaro, a reputed captain of the crime syndicate, were entitled to bail.

The appeals court stayed the effect of its own ruling pending today’s decision, meaning the two men remained behind bars.

Salerno subsequently was convicted in New York City with seven other alleged crime bosses in a case separate from the one that led to the 2nd Circuit Court ruling.

Government prosecutors said Salerno and Cafaro were dangerous because of their alleged underworld roles and should be denied bail for that reason.

In another case today the court, ignoring the Reagan Administration’s pleas, ruled 5 to 4 that illegal aliens facing felony charges for re-entering the United States may challenge the validity of their first deportation.