Who created the practice in which the Florida Legislative Investigation Committee used during the era of the Second Red Scare?
Florida Legislative Investigation Committee The Florida Legislative Investigation Committee (also known as the Johns Committee) was established by the Florida Legislature in 1956, during the era of the Second Red Scare and the Lavender Scare. Like the more famous anti-Communist investigative committees of the McCarthy period in the United States Congress, the Florida committee undertook a wide-ranging investigation of potentially subversive activities by academics, Civil Rights Movement groups, and suspected communist organizations, and also attempted to eliminate homosexuals from state government and public education.
Silent witness rule The silent witness rule is the use of "substitutions" when referring to sensitive information in the United States open courtroom jury trial system. The phrase was first used in US v. Zettl, in 1987. An example of a substitution method is the use of code-words on a "key card", to which witnesses and the jury would refer during the trial, but which the public would not have access to. The rule is an evidentiary doctrine that tries to balance the state secrets privilege with the bill of rights (especially the right of the accused to a public trial, and the right to due process). In practice the rule has been rarely used and often challenged by judges and civil rights advocates. Its use remains controversial.