United States v. Article or Device "Hubbard Electrometer"

333 F. Supp. 357, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12206
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedJuly 30, 1971
DocketD.C. 1-63
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 333 F. Supp. 357 (United States v. Article or Device "Hubbard Electrometer") is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Article or Device "Hubbard Electrometer", 333 F. Supp. 357, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12206 (D.D.C. 1971).

Opinion

GESELL, District Judge.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

This is an action by the United States seeking nationwide condemnation of a gadget known as an E-meter and related writings, by libel of information under the Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S.C. § 301 et seq. The E-meter is claimed to be a device within the meaning of the *359 Act. Misbranding and lack of adequate directions for use are alleged. Claimants are the Founding Church of Scientology and various individuals.

This suit was originally tried to a jury before another Judge of this Court and the conviction there obtained was reversed on appeal after a long trial because of certain First Amendment problems suggested by the, instructions and evidentiary rulings. Founding Church of Scientology v. United States, 133 U.S.App.D.C. 229, 409 F.2d 1146 (1969). The present trial was conducted to the Court without a jury after a series of pretrials which narrowed the issues. The record consists of the transcript and exhibits taken at the prior trial with some additions and deletions, plus the testimony of one additional witness who testified further on religious aspects of the case. Many of the background facts are set forth in the opinion of the Court of Appeals and since they were in the main not contested at the second trial they need not all be repeated here.

The E-meter is essentially a simple galvanometer using two tin cans as electrodes. It is crude, battery-powered, and designed to measure electrical skin resistance. It is completely harmless and ineffective in itself. A person using the meter for treatment holds the tin cans in his hands during an interview with the operator who is known as an auditor and who purports to read indicators from the galvanometer needle as it notes reactions to questions. Scientology is a so-called exact science which promotes auditing. When practiced by trained or untrained persons, Scientology auditing is claimed to improve the health, intelligence, ability, behavior, skill and appearance of the individual treated.

L. Ron Hubbard, writing in a science fiction magazine in the 1940’s, first advanced the extravagant false claims that various physical and mental illnesses could be cured by auditing. He played a major part in developing Scientology. Thereafter, commencing in the early 1950’s numerous Scientology books and pamphlets were written explaining how various illnesses can be and had been cured through auditing. These materials were widely distributed. Hubbard, who wrote much of the material, is a facile, prolific author and his quackery flourished throughout the United States and in various parts of the world. He was supported by other pamphleteers and adherents who also promoted the practice of Scientology and touted its alleged benefits.

Hubbard and his fellow Scientologists developed the notion of using an E-meter to aid auditing. Substantial fees were charged for the meter and for auditing sessions using the meter. They repeatedly and explicitly represented that such auditing effectuated cures of many physical and mental illnesses. An individual processed with the aid of the E-meter was said to reach the intended goal of “clear” and was led to believe there was reliable scientific proof that once cleared many, indeed most illnesses would automatically be cured. Auditing was guaranteed to be successful. All this was and is false — in short, a fraud. Contrary to representations made, there is absolutely no scientific or medical basis in fact for the claimed cures attributed to E-meter auditing.

Unfortunately the Government did not move to stop the practice of Scientology and a related “science” known as Dianetics when these activities first appeared and were gaining public acceptance. Had it done so, this tedious litigation would not have been necessary. The Government did not sue to condemn the E-meter until the early 1960’s, by which time a religious cult known as the Founding Church of Scientology had appeared. This religion, formally organized in 1955, existed side-by-side with the secular practice of Scientology. Its adherents embrace many of Hubbard’s teachings and widely disseminate his writings. The Church purports to believe that many illnesses may be cured through E-meter auditing by its trained ministers through an appeal to the spirit or soul of a man. As a matter of formal doctrine, the Church professes to have *360 abandoned any contention that there is a scientific basis for claiming cures resulting from E-meter use. The Church, however, continued widely to circulate Scientology literature such as Government’s exhibits 16 and 31, which hold out false scientific and medical promises of certain cure for many types of illnesses. 1

In 1962, when the Government seized the E-meters involved in the present controversy, it took them from the premises of the Church, confiscating some E-meters which were actually then being used primarily by ministers of the Church to audit adherents or to train auditors for subsequent church activity. Thus the Government put itself in the delicate position of moving against not only secular uses of the E-meter but other uses purporting to be religious, and the Court accordingly confronts the necessity of reconciling the requirements of the Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act prohibiting misbranding and the requirements of the First Amendment protecting religious institutions and religious beliefs from governmental interference under the First Amendment.

The Court of Appeals has ruled that the evidence at the prior trial and reintroduced at this trial established prima facie that the Founding Church of Scientology, the principal claimant here, is a bona fide religion and that the auditing practice of Scientology and accounts of it are religious doctrine. No evidence to the contrary was offered by the Government on the second trial. Accordingly, for purposes of this particular ease only, claimant must be deemed to have met its burden of establishing First Amendment standing for whatever significance the religious practice of Scientology may have on the outcome of this particular litigation.

The Government considers the First Amendment issue wholly irrelevant and extraneous. Claimant, on the other hand, relies heavily on the religious claim. The positions of the parties are so completely different that neither even deigns to recognize any merit in the other. The briefs and findings proposed, by each side pass like two ships at night with not even a port or starboard light showing. Yet the truth is not as absolute as either party contends. Religious aspects of this controversy, once tactically conceded, cannot be ignored. On the other hand, it is a gross exaggeration to insist that the energetic, persistent solicitation of E-meter-audited cures for a fee has all occurred in a spiritual setting without use of secular, appeals and false scientific promises made in a wholly non-religious context.

Turning to the precise issues presented, it must first be determined whether the E-meter is a device within the meaning of the Act (21 U.S.C. § 321 (h)).

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Bluebook (online)
333 F. Supp. 357, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12206, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-article-or-device-hubbard-electrometer-dcd-1971.