Jewish Congress Appeals to Supreme Court Against Aramco Bias

The American Jewish Congress today took its complaint charging the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco) with refusing to hire Jews to the State Supreme Court. The AJC filed an appeal seeking reversal of a ruling by the State Commission Against Discrimination that Aramco would continue to screen out Jews for employment at the demand of Saudi Arabia.

In dismissing the AJC complaint against Aramco, Elmer Carter of the State Commission Against Discrimination, held that because Saudi Arabia does not admit Jews, Aramco is exempt under the "bona fide occupational qualification" of the New York anti-discrimination law. He also quoted a letter from Assistant Secretary of State William Rountree that a ruling against Aramco would "prejudice the company’s operations" in Saudi Arabia and would "probably adversely affect other U.S. interests there as well." Mr. Carter is now chairman of the Commission. In its appeal today, the American Jewish Congress advanced three main arguments:

1. The "bona fide occupational exception" in the State law applies only in cases where the race or religion of the applicant affects his intrinsic ability to perform the job. An engineer or oil driller is no less competent because he is Jewish.

2. In previous cases, the State Commission Against Discrimination has consistently held that the prejudice of third parties cannot be the basis for the "bona fide" exception. Thus, a department store cannot refuse to hire Negro salesmen on the ground that some customers from the South might object. In the Aramco case, the fact that the third party is a foreign government–Saudi Arabia, which refuses to admit Jews–in no way justifies a change in Commission policy.

3. Commissioner Carter failed to give sufficient consideration to a 1956 U.S. Senate resolution that religious distinctions are "incompatible with the relations that should exist among friendly nations," and that this principle should be followed "in all negotiations between the United States and any foreign state." Moreover, a letter from a State Department official has neither the weight nor the force of a treaty, compact or executive agreement, and thus can in no way supersede State law or policy.

"The main point to consider is whether Aramco as a private and non-sovereign corporation doing business in New York State must comply with the law of the State," the American Jewish Congress argued. "Both the Federal and the State governments, we believe, have the obligation to see to it that the bigoted practices of other nations are not allowed to breed discrimination within our borders," the appeal said.