New York City’s Corporation Counsel was set today to oppose a Civil Liberties Union application coming before the State Supreme Court tomorrow to allow George Lincoln Rockwell’s American Nazi Party to hold a public rally in this city on Labor Day. Another court, in Brooklyn, yesterday, extended a previously issued temporary injunction, forbidding Rockwell to go through with his planned Labor Day meeting.
Yesterday’s injunction extension was issued in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn by Justice Louis L. Friedman. The jurist had handed down the original temporary injunction last June, forbidding a planned Nazi Party rally that was to have been held in Union Square on the Fourth of July.
The action before Justice Friedman was pressed by the Jewish War Veterans of New York State as well as by two Brooklyn political figures, State Senator Frank J. Pino and State Assemblyman Irwin Brownstein. Justice Friedman ordered the Nazi Party “to refrain from engaging in any subversive and Nazi Party political activity in the State of New York.”
If Rockwell wants to avail himself of facilities of New York City or of any part of the state “for the purpose of making public utterances,” stated Justice Friedman, “he ought to come into court and be heard.” Rockwell, however, did not appear in court.
Tomorrow’s action will come before Justice Henry Epstein, in Manhattan Supreme Court. The Civil Liberties Union, which announced that it opposes Rockwell’s philosophy, has agreed to back him in his efforts to establish his right of free speech and expression. Assistant Corporation Counsel Saul Moskoff announced that he will appear before Justice Epstein to oppose the CLU petition.
Assemblyman Brownstein told the court yesterday that Rockwell, who lives in Arlington, Va., has not yet been served with the court’s temporary injunction order. However, Mr. Brownstein said, Rockwell will be served with the injunction if he appears in court tomorrow in connection with the Civil Liberties Union petition.
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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.
