Court Rules Against Granting Corporate Charter to “hate Group”

A ruling that there is no constitutional or statutory requirement to grant corporate charters to “hate groups” was published in the New York Law Journal today. The ruling was issued by Judge J. Irwin Shapiro and was filed four days ago in Queens County Supreme Court. It was hailed today by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith.

Judge Shapiro’s action was taken on an application for a certificate of incorporation made by a group calling itself the “Association for Preservation of Freedom of Choice, Inc.” He made clear, on the basis of his study of the proposed charter of the group, that he believed that it intended to foster and encourage discrimination for reasons of religion and race.

“So far as the proposed incorporators as individuals are concerned,” he said, “they may indulge in their prejudices and bigotries. But their purposes and intended practices should not be sanctioned by receiving the imprimatur of this court.”

Judge Shapiro noted that incorporation under state law is a “privilege. ” Since state public policy opposes discrimination, he said, “this court does not conceive it to be his duty to certify and approve for incorporation an organization which by its very intendment negates these basic principles of our land.”

The Anti-Defamation League’s statement said: “Judge Shapiro’s action is a significant step forward, one which helps fortify the legal framework of democracy. Under our Constitution, a private organization has the right to organize for the purpose of expressing the convictions of its members. But when the purposes of an organization are in violation of the statutes and laws of the state, it is the courts obligation to deny such a group the imprimatur and sanction of the state.”