George Lincoln Rockwell’s Washington-based American Nazi Party was roundly denounced in New York State Supreme Court here today as an organization that advocates the mass extermination of Jews, as a dozen attorneys, representing a wide variety of Jewish and non-Jewish organizations, petitioned the court to uphold the refusal of New York City to permit Rockwell to hold a public rally in this city.
The hearing, before Justice Henry Epstein, was on a petition of the New York Civil Liberties Union which insisted that the city permit Rockwell to hold a rally in Union Square. The CLU, however, clearly disassociated itself from Rockwell’s views, holding only that his constitutional rights of free speech would be violated if he were to be shut out of his “right” to hold a public rally.
After two hours of argument, Justice Epstein reserved decision on the CLU petition and all the counter petitions, giving all attorneys until Friday afternoon to file briefs. He did not indicate when he would render decision. Rockwell was not present. There is a warrant of arrest for his apprehension in New York City on charges of inciting to riot.
Emanuel Redfield, counsel for the CLU, argued the case for Rockwell’s constitutional rights, while Assistant Corporation Counsel Saul Moskoff opposed the Civil Liberties petition on behalf of Mayor Robert F. Wagner and Commissioner of Parks Newbold Morris. Union Square is under the Park Commissioner’s jurisdiction. Mr. Morris, last June, denied a Rockwell application for a permit to hold a meeting in Union Square, after Mayor Wagner denounced the Nazi leader as “a half-pint Hitler.”
After Mr. Moskoff had argued that Rockwell’s previous speeches, at rallies in Washington, had proved that the man advocates the mass murder of Jews, Justice Epstein permitted the playing of a recording in which Rockwell was heard to say that 80 percent of American Jews are Communists or pro-Communists, and that “all Communists, including Jews, should be executed.”
Among the organizations that argued against granting Rockwell a New York park permit were the American Jewish Committee, represented by Edwin J. Lukas; Jewish Labor Committee, represented by Leon Becker; Jewish War Veterans of the United States, Theodore Brooks; Assemblyman Irwin Brownstein, representing himself; Harry Lipsig, for the Public Awareness Society; and the Labor Temple Fellowship, an organization including members of all faiths, represented by Martin Leaf.
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.
