Judge Walter McCarthy in Arlington Circuit Court rejected today a motion to dismiss charges of maintaining a public nuisance and disorderly conduct brought against George Lincoln Rockwell, anti-Semitic agitator, but ordered the Commonwealth’s attorney to produce more specific charges than were contained in the grand jury presentment.
Charles S. Russell, attorney designated by the court to study the issues involved, pointed out that the case would very likely raise constitutional questions of freedom of speech and freedom of association. He asked for further legal documentation from Commonwealth’s Attorney William J. Hassan.
Rockwell, in asking dismissal of the charges, said they amounted to political persecution and insisted that he had violated no law. Mr. Hassan said the authorities were not concerned with Rockwell’s ideology but with the manner in which he espoused his beliefs.
“There are rights of the community and these must be protected,” the prosecutor told the court, “to use the highways and to live without fear.” He said the State of Virginia was not concerned with the contents of the literature distributed by Rockwell. He said that “we do not care what this man believes, but his conduct should not infringe on the rights of others.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
