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[[underlined]] Cases Previously Reported [[/underlined]]

1. Petition of the United States on behalf and for the benefit of the Smithsonian Institution, Trustee
[[line]]

A petition requesting the court to construe certain provisions of the J. Seward Johnson gift was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia by the Department of Justice on February 24, 1977. The Harbor Branch Foundation, Inc., and J. Seward Johnson were permitted to intervene as interested parties and to file a response to the petition of the United States. Subsequently, the intervenors were permitted by the court to amend their original response to include allegations that the Smithsonian failed to exercise adequate control over the trust funds, that expenditures from trust funds were made by the Smithsonian in contravention of the terms of the gift, and that the Smithsonian is hostile to the alleged purposes of the trust. Trial on the issues has been concluded and post-trial briefs will be submitted and argued by mid-December. A decision by the court is expected sometime in the next few months.

2. [[underlined]] Crowley [[/underlined]] v. [[underlined]] Smithsonian Institution [[/underlined]]

This action, filed in April 1978 in the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges that references to "evolution" in the exhibits of the National Museum of Natural History violate the "establishment of religion" clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution. Plaintiffs, two of whom are Baptist ministers, seek to enjoin the Smithsonian from in any manner depicting the theories of evolution or expending appropriated funds therefor, or, in the alternative, to compel the Smithsonian to expend an amount equal to that spent on evolution theory on the presentation of the "creation/design" theory based on the Book of Genesis. The motion to dismiss filed by the Department of Justice was argued before the court on November 9, 1978, and was granted in a decision issued December 11, 1978.

3. [[underlined]] Mount [[/underlined]] v. [[underlined]] Sadik, et al. [[/underlined]]

This action in libel was filed May 16, 1978, against the Director of the National Portrait Gallery, the magazine [[underlined]] Artnews [[/underlined]], and persons associated with it. It concerns a dispute as to the attribution of a portrait of George Washington. A motion to dismiss, filed on behalf of the Smithsonian employee by the U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, was granted on October 26, 1978. Plaintiff's time to appeal the decision or amend his complaint has not as yet expired.