Jewish Organizations Win Plea in Supreme Court in Libel Case

The American Jewish Committee, the B’nai B’rith, the Jewish Labor Committee and the American Jewish Congress were granted permission yesterday by the Supreme Court to file a brief objecting to a decision of a Federal Circuit Court which said that charging a public official with anti-Semitism is libelous.

The permission to file the brief was sought in connection with forthcoming arguments on a libel suit brought by Representative Sweeney, Democrat, of Ohio, against the Schenectady (New York) Union Publishing Company. Mr. Sweeney claimed to have been libeled by statements published in the Schenectady Union Star in 1938 that he was opposing the appointment of Emerich Burt Freed as Federal District Judge at Cleveland on the ground that Mr. Freed was a Jew.

Dismissal of the Representative’s suit for $250,000 damages was ordered by the Northern New York Federal District court. The Federal Circuit court at New York, however, ordered a trial on the merits.

Henry H. Nordlinger, New York attorney for the Jewish organizations, said in his motion for permission to file the brief: “The practical effect of the Circuit Court ruling is that an utterance which identifies a public official with an unpopular view on a matter of public concern…involves presumptive and punitive liability. It also has a peculiar significance in its relation to the expression of opinion by minority groups in the community, for it renders hazardous criticism by the members of such groups and by the press charging public officials with bias against minorities.”

The attorney said the newspaper consented to the filing of a brief but that Mr. Sweeney had declined a previous request. Usually, the Supreme Court denies such applications unless permission from both parties to litigation has been obtained.