The American Jewish Committee has informed Governor Rockefeller of its opposition to the Group Libel Bill introduced by Senator Irwin R. Brownstein (Democrat) and now waiting the governor’s signature. The bill would create for the first time in New York State a criminal penalty for group libel, which is the utterance or publishing of any statement or statements defamatory of a racial or religious group, known by the utterer or publisher to be false.
“Our examination of the history of group libel statutes, particularly those in pre-Nazi Germany, underscores their inherent futility,” Theodore Ellenoff, chairman of the group’s Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Committee, said in his letter to the Governor. “For the past twenty odd years the Committee has opposed group libel legislation nationally and in the several states. Although such legislation is generally introduced with the highest motivations, we have based our objections on the ground that more problems are raised than are solved.
“Such legislation provides bigots and extremists with an opportunity to use the courts as a forum for their calumnies and as a focus for publicity,” Mr. Ellenoff explained. “A prosecution to alleviate racial and religious antagonism might well become an instrument for extending it. These fears are not imaginary.”
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