Jim Garrison and the SCEF Raids
From: jpshinley@my-dejanews.com
Date: Wed, Dec 2, 1998 16:23 EST
Message-id: <744b5c$c9n$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>
Here are some excerpts from the Supreme Court's decision in the
case of Dombrowski v. Pfister, obtained from the follwing URL:
http://www.vcilp.org/fedct/Supreme/Flite/opinions/380US479.htm
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Title: 52,380 US 479 (04-26-65)
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<> This opinion was acquired from the Flite Database and enhanced
for distribution on the Internet by The Villanova Center for
Information and Policy.
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DOMBROWSKI V. PFISTER, CHAIRMAN, JOINT LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE ON
UNAMERICAN ACTIVITIES OF THE LOUISIANA LEGISLATURE
380 U.S. 479 NO. 52.
ARGUED JANUARY 25, 1965.
DECIDED APRIL 26, 1965.
227 F. SUPP. 556, REVERSED AND REMANDED.
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Appellants, a civil rights organization and its executive director,
brought suit in federal district court, in which other individuals
later joined, for injunctive and declaratory relief to restrain
appellees from prosecuting or threatening to prosecute them under
Louisiana's Subversive Activities and Communist Control Law and
Communist Propaganda Control Law, which they alleged violated their
rights of free expression under the first and fourteenth amendments.
Appellants contended that the statutes were excessively broad and
susceptible of application in violation of those rights, and were
being used by appellees in bad faith, not to secure valid convictions,
but to deter appellants' civil rights efforts. Appellants alleged
and offered to prove the arrest of the individual appellants under
the statutes, the raiding of their offices and illegal seizure of
their records, with continued threats of prosecution after
invalidation by a state court of the arrests and seizure of evidence
preceding this action. A three judge district court dismissed the
complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be
granted, also holding that abstention was appropriate pending a
possible narrowing construction by the state courts which would
avoid unnecessary constitutional adjudication. Thereafter,
appellants alleged, the individual appellants were indicted under the
subversive activities and communist control law. They also claimed
that there was no prospect of final state adjudications either under
those indictments or under threatened additional prosecutions.
...
MR. Justice Brennan delivered the opinion of the court.
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Appellants filed a complaint in the district court for the Eastern
district of Louisiana, invoking the civil rights act, rev. stat.
sec. 1979, 42 u.s.c. sec. 1983 (1958 ed.), and seeking
declaratory relief and an injunction restraining appellees - the
governor, police and law enforcement officers, and the chairman of
the Legislative Joint Committee on Un-American Activities in
Louisiana - from prosecuting or threatening to prosecute appellants
for alleged violations of the Louisiana Subversive Activities and
Communist Control law and the Communist Propaganda Control law.
Appellant Southern Conference Educational Fund, inc. ( SCEF ),
is active in fostering civil rights for Negroes in Louisiana and
other states of the South. Appellant [James] Dombrowski is its
executive director; intervenor [Benjamin] Smith, its treasurer; and
intervenor [Bruce] Waltzer, Smith's law partner and an attorney for
SCEF . The complaint alleges that the statutes on their face violate
the First and Fourteenth Amendment guarantees securing freedom of
expression, because overbreadth makes them susceptible of sweeping
and improper application abridging those rights. Supported by
affidavits and a written offer of proof, the complaint further
alleges that the threats to enforce the statutes against appellants
are not made with any expectation of securing valid convictions, but
rather are part of a plan to employ arrests, seizures, and threats of
prosecution under color of the statutes to harass appellants and
discourage them and their supporters from asserting and attempting
to vindicate the constitutional rights of Negro citizens of Louisiana.
...
Appellants' allegations and offers of proof outline the chilling effect
on free expression of prosecutions initiated and threatened in this
case. Early in October 1963 appellant Dombrowski and intervenors
Smith and Waltzer were arrested by Louisiana state and local police
and charged with violations of the two statutes. Their offices were
raided and their files and records seized. Later in October a state
judge quashed the arrest warrants as not based on probable cause,
and discharged the appellants. Subsequently, the court granted a
motion to suppress the seized evidence on the ground that the
raid was illegal. Louisiana officials continued, however, to threaten
prosecution of the appellants, who thereupon filed this action in
November. Shortly after the three-judge court was convened, a grand
jury was summoned in the Parish of Orleans to hear evidence looking
to indictments of the individual appellants. On appellants'
application Judge Wisdom issued a temporary restraining order against
prosecutions pending hearing and decision of the case in the district
court. Following a hearing the district court, over Judge Wisdom's
dissent, dissolved the temporary restraining order and, at the same
time, handed down an order dismissing the complaint. Thereafter the
grand jury returned indictments under the subversive activities and
communist control law against the individual appellants.
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These events, together with repeated announcements by appellees that
the appellant organization is a subversive or communist-front
organization, whose members must register or be prosecuted under
the Louisiana statutes, have, appellants allege, frightened off
potential members and contributors...
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...
The brief filed in this court by appellee Garrison , District Attorney
of the Parish of Orleans, the official having immediate responsibility
for the indictments, concedes the facts concerning the arrests of the
individual appellants, their discharge by the local judge, and the
indictments of the individual appellants by the grand jury. In view
of our decision on the merits, the district court on remand need
decide only the relief to which appellants may be entitled on the
basis of their attacks on other on their allegations that appellees
threaten to enforce both statutes solely to discourage appellants
from continuing their civil rights activities. On these issues,
abstention will be as inappropriate as on the issues we here decide.
Jerry Shinley
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
Further citations . . .
New Orleans Times-Picayune January 31, 1964 S1-P7
[Benjamin Smith's statement on Jim Garrison's indictments:]
These are simply indictments, or accusations, of course -
not convictions. But they are particularly sinister accusations
since they constitute a deliberate attempt to destroy the
reutations of two civil rights attorneys and civil rights
organizations. [SCEF and the National Lawyer's Guild]
Neither my partner nor I nor SCEF is, or has ever been subversive,
and I cannot believe that our community will swallow so phony
an effort to link integration with communism.
The statute under which we have been indicted is obviously
unconstitutional. We are preparing to attack it -- in fact, it
is already being appealed to the United States Supreme Court.
When it is finally found unconstitutional, the state's entire
case will collapse. And the state knows it - thus these hasty and
premature indictments. I am ashamed for our entire state that
such things can happen here.
[Bruce Waltzer's statement:]
I think that this indictment is going to shock the entire legal
community of our country.
But perhaps it is good that Louisiana's irresponsible and
unconstitutional so-called "subversion law" will now have to endure
the scrutiny of our nation and its courts.
I am confident that this assault on a perfectly respectable bar
association [National Lawyer's Guild] will be struck down by the
courts.
New Orleans Times-Picayune Feb 4, 1964 S1-P3
Feb 5, 1964 S1-P1
West, Ellis, Wisdom
Feb 11, 1964 S1-P2
Ben Smith, Robert Zibilich
Feb 21, 1964 S2-P12
March 24, 1964 S2-P4
Judge George Platt
April 28, 1964 S1-P11
June 16, 1964 S3-P20
La. Red Control Law Under Fire
Wash(AP)
June 17, 1964 S2-P2
Judge Platt
Oct 3, 1964 S2-P20
Fed. District Court
Oct 18, 1964 S1-P18
Oct 22
Oct 24, 1964 S2-P13
Shuttlesworth, Bob Moses, Ben Smith
Oct 27, 1964 S1-P11
Jan 26, 1965 S1-P5
Subversive Activities Law Argued before Tribunal
Wash(AP)
Feb 4, 1965 S1-P25
Fed Judge Robert A. Ainsworth
Feb 17, 1965 S3-P6
41 cartons, delivered to D.A. by Jack N. Rogers
April 27, 1965 S1-P13
Key Points of La. Subversive Act Killed
Wash(AP)
June 30, 1965 S1-P7
La. Subversive Curb Attacked
Judges Wisdom & West
Jan 16, 1966 S1-P1
Feb 6, 1966 S1-P9
anti-Viet Nam war
Nov 16, 1966 S3-P12
U.S. Fifth remanded to U.S. District Court
Oct 21, 1967 S1-P26
Mrs. Paul Blanchard, Benjamin E. Smith, Albert D'Orlando
Jan 16, 1968 S1-P12
chmn Benjamin E. Smith v-p La. ACLU
Jan 25, 1968 S2-P4
Richard Sobol, arrested in Plaquemines
Feb 11, 1968 S1-P7
Gerald Hill, SF atty
May 3, 1969 S4-P22
9 of 10 LUAC members apologze to SCEF
The Martin Luther King, Jr., FBI File
Reel 3, Frame 400
Memorandum dated 5/26/64, file 100-106610
[A 5/18/64 article in the Jackson, Mississippi Daily News reproduced
a check from the SCEF made out to Martin Luther King. Baumgardner
stated the th 11/19/63 report of the Lousiana Joint Legislative
Committee on Un-American Activities was the probable source of this
information. He goes on to say ...]
The above mentioned report sets forth the results of the hearings
of the State of Louisiana Committee and for the most part is
unspecific as to dates of Communist Party membership on the part
of the SCEF director, also contains many conclusions, inferences
and hearsay evidence which nevertheless lead to specific factual
conclusions by the Committee. These hearings resulted in [sic]
a raid on the SCEF on 10/4/63 by Louisiana State Police and New
Orleans Police. As a result of the raids, leaders of the SCEF were
arrested for violation of the Louisiana Subversive Activties and
Communist Control Law, the constitutionality of which is being tested
in the courts. We have stayed out of this entire matter in view of
the considerable legal and political implications involved.
Congressional Record - Senate Feb 3, 1965 pp 1943-53
Statement by Senator James Eastland
Communist Forces Behind the Negro Revolution in this Country
[...]
[Senator Eastland was worked up over the Mississippi Freedom
Democratic Party. So he was attacking its supporters. Here is
what he said about Benjamin Smith, of SCEF raid fame.]
Along with [Arthur] Kinoy and [William] Kunstler, Benjamin E.
Smith as named as one of the three who guide the legal affairs
of the Freedom Party. Whether or not because of his position as
legal counsel, this Benjamin Smith is indeed a very strong supporter
of the Mississippi Freedom Party and its objectives. He was at one
time, and may still be, one of two men in charge of the activities
of a special task force sent into Mississippi by the National Lawyers
Guild to aid in registration of Negroes to vote.
Benjamin E. Smith is a member of the firm of Smith & Waltzer in
New Orleans, La.
Smith is a member of the National Lawyers Guild and has served
on its executive board. He is a politically minded man, and was
active in left-wing politics before he could vote. In 1948, at the
age of 21, he was named a presidential elector on the Henry Wallace
ticket.
Benjamin Smith had an early association - more than 10 years ago
with Hunter Pitts O'Dell, then a Communist Party District organizer,
who subsequently, and much more recently, became an assistant to
Martin Luther King.
In October 1954, Benjamin E. Smith was one of 175 signers of a
letter to President Eisenhower urging him to grant amnesty to
"political prisoners convicted under the Smith Act."
In 1956, in sworn testimony before the Internal Security
Subcommittee at a hearing in New Orleans, La., Smith denied that
he had ever been a member of the Communist Party.
[Smith was serving as an attorney for a witness at the hearings.]
In Sping of 1958, Benjamin E. Smith was appointed assistant
district attorney of the parish of New Orleans [sic]. This came
about in an interesting way. The newly elected district attorney was
one Richard A. Dowling, who had been identified in the July 1938
issue of _Equal Justice_ as an attorney for the Internation Labor
Defense in New Orleans, who had been a member of the National
Committee of the International Juridical Association in 1942, and
who was listed in 1938 as a member of the Lawyers' Committee on
American Relations with Spain. District Attorney Dowling appointed
one J. David McNeil as his executive assistant. Mr McNeil had been
a member of the International Labor Defense and had been identified
with the National Lawyers' Guild and with the Southern Conference
for Human Welfare. At the same time that he appointed McNeil as
his executive assistant, Dowling named Benjamin E. Smith as assistant
District Attorney.
Benjamin E. Smith went to Cuba near the end of December, 1960,
and stayed about 2 weeks, reportedly as a guest of the Mational
Lawyers' College of Cuba, to attend events commemorating the
second anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. Smith reportedly
has claimed that Fidel Castro has done a great deal to help the
Cuban people and that the American press has given a distorted
picture of the Castro Regime.
[Who "reported" this to Eastland? Guy Banister?]
In October of 1961 or prior thereto, Smith was employed by the
Republic of Cuba; and in 1964 both Benjamin E. Smith and his
partner, Bruce C. Waltzer, were registered under the Foreign
Agents Registration Act as agents of the Republic of Cuba.
Smith was elected a vice president of the National Lawyers
Guild at its national convention in Detroit, Mich., in February
of last year [1964].
[End of Eastland's rant.]
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[end of excerpts]
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Besides Jim Garrison , some other people involved in the SCEF raid
are Major Presly Trosclair and his NOPD Intelligence Squad;
Major Russell Willie of the Louisiana State Police, who is mentioned in
Volume X of the HSCA report because he purchased some of Guy Banister's
files; and Senator James Eastland, who subpenaed the records seized in
the raid, removing them from the jurisdiction of the Louisiana courts.
(There is also a Dombrowski v. Eastland decision see the
following URL:
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http://www.vcilp.org/fedct/Supreme/Flite/opinions/387US82.htm
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Garrison 's participation in this raid raises many questions. One of
them is why was that commie Lee Harvey Oswald immune to prosecution
under Louisiana's Ant-Subversion laws. My suspicion is that the
Louisiana authorities knew that the laws where legally questionable
and wanted to save them for the SCEF raid.
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Citations from the New Orleans Times-Picauyne
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Oct 3, 1963 S1-P23
Workshop Set for Lawyers
Civil Rights, Negligence Law to be Topics
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[The SCEF defendants were attending this when the raid occurred.
See _Rights on Trial_ by Arthur Kinoy]
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Oct 5, 1963 S1-P1
Raids Under Red Control Act Bring Three Arrests
Dombrowski of SCEF Included; Records Seized
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Mention of Major Russel Willie, La. State Police, who led raid.
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"Maj. Trosclair [Head NOPD Intelligence] said the allegations will be
presented to Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison."
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3 defendants paroled by Judge Cocke.
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Oct 6, 1963 S1-P1
FBI Not Tabbed on Raid--Rogers
Trusts Hoover But Not Justice Department
Baton Rouge(AP)
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Oct 6, 1963 S1-P7
Charge 'Pack of Lies'--Smith
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Oct 6, 1963 S1-P7
Raid Denounced by SCEF Leader
Just Part of Fight on Freedom, He Says
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Oct 7, 1963 S1-P22
Raids on SCEF Rapped by [Martin Luther] King
Called 'Smear Tactics' by Leader
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Oct 8, 1963 S1-P7
Rogers Denies Curb Attempt
Only Investigating Subersion, He Says
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Oct 9, 1963 S1-P2
Hearings Before Long Says Committee Leader
Material Seized in Raid to be Evaluated
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Oct 13, 1963 S1-P20
Unitarian Board Scores Arrests
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Oct 13, 1963 S2-P4
Letters to Editor
Condemns Raid
Mrs. Paul A. Blanchard
[Is this the woman who Ruth Paine wrote to about Marina?]
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Oct 15, 1963 S1-P13
Data Studied in SCEF Raid
DA Office Receives Confiscated Documents
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Frank Klein
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Oct 17, 1963 S3-p2
RFK Assistance in Cases Asked
Civil Liberties Unit Wants Help for Lawyers
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Oct 18, 1963 S1-P21
Hearing Set Oct 25 for Attorneys
Motion Filed Over Arrests in SCEF Raids
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Oct 22, 1963 S1-P6
Hearing For Dombrowski Set for Friday Morning
Hearings Same Time for Smith, Waltzer
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Oct 23, 1963 S2-p22
Judge Demands SCEF Material
Seized Records Must be Brought to Court
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Oct 26, 1963 S1-P1 [Key Article]
Three in SCEF Case Released
Judge Cocke Rules Evidence Insufficient
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Russell Willie refused to name an informant who provided info
about SCEF members activities [My guess, probably a wire tap]
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Oct 29, 1963 S1-P4
3 Ask $750,000 in Damages
Suit Filed by Waltzer, Dombrowski, Smith
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Nov 1, 1963 S1-P16
SCEF Records' Return Sought
$250,000 Damages Also Asked in Court Suit
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Nov 2, 1963 S1-P15
SCEF Records Case Appealed
Issue Goes to U.S. Fith Circuit Court
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Nov 11, 1963 S1-P5
Censure Asked Against Solon
SCEF Attacks Eastland for Records Action
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Nov 12, 1963 S1-P15 [Key Article]
SCEF Strikes at State Law
Suit Attacks Validity of Subversives Act
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Russell Willie and Garrison Named as Defendants
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Nov 14, 1963 S1-p2
SCEF Raid Items Given DA
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Nov 15, 1963 S1-P1
Grand Jury Told to Probe Possible Subversive Acts
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Frank Klein, D'Alton Williams
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Nov 16, 1963 S1-P9
Records Probe Bar Denied
Judge Refuses to Grant SCEF Injunction
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Nov 19, 1963 S1-P1 [Key Article]
Action Against SCEF Banned
U. S. Judge Issues Restraining Order
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John Minor Wisdom [Eisenhower appointee]
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Nov 28, 1963 S1-P4
Danger of Red Fronts Cited
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Dec 5, 1963 S1-P4
City Dismissed as Defendant
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Dec 10, 1963 S1-P18 [Key Article]
U.S. Panel Studies SCEF Suit
Plantiffs Hold Red Laws Unconstitutional
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Willaim A, Porteous III, JG ADA
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Dec 19, 1963 S1-P26
Ruling Favors Sen. Eastland
Judge Decides in SCEF Records Issue
Washington(AP)
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Jan 11, 1964 S1-P3 [Key Article]
State Anti-Red Acts Sustained
U.S. Court Upholds Laws in 2-1 Decision
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Jan 23, 1964 S2-P15 [Key Article]
Two Attorneys Heard by Jury
Testify Voluntarily in Red Control Probe
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Jack N. Rogers testifies. Frank Klein.
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Jan 30, 1964 S1-P1 [Very Key Article]
Jury Indicts 3 Nabbed in Raid
Accused of Violating Subversive Activities Act
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Klein, Williams
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http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
Two Attorneys' Blast Charges
Act Unconstitutional, Say Smith, Waltzer
Copying of SCEF Record is Hit
Keating Protests Senate Unit's Probe
Federal Court Alters Finding
Tells State Court to Rule on Subversive Acts
vacated action of Jan 10
SCEF Official Pleads Innocent
Judge Bernard Cocke
20 days for pleadings
SCEF Decision is Denial of Due Process -- Wisdom
Dissents to Findings of Three Judge Court
SCEF Case Search Orders Hit
Dombrowski Defense Attacks Warrants
further arguments in two weeks
Maj. Russell R. Willie, 1st witness
Frank Klein qualified Jack Rogers as an expert witness
SCEF is Linked to Cuba -- Panel
Louisiana Un-American Group Claims Tie
Supreme Court Agrees to Rule on Statutes
SCEF, stmt from Fred Shuttlesworth
Court Rejects SCEF Evidence
Papers Taken in Raid Ruled Inadmissible
search warrant illegal because arrest warrant illegal
Two Attorneys Seek Damages
Claim Illegal Arrests in SCEF Raids
$250K each
Col. Alexander, Jack Rogers, Russell Willie, James Pfister
Willie & Rogers accused of making false stmts to obtain warrants
Dinner Slated Here Thursday
Legal and Ministerial Group to be Feted
Fred Shuttlesworth, SCEF
George Crockett, v-p Nat'l Lawyers Guild
Arthur Kinoy, William Kunstler
Ben Smith, Bruce Waltzer
Robert Moses, SNCC
Rights Leader Bars Violence
SCEF Head Sees Way to Overcome Obstacles
Suit Allowed in SCEF Case
friend of court brief by Nat'l Lawyers Guild
Lawyers Say La. Statute Uncontitutional
Jack Rogers, John E. Jackson, ass't La. atty gen
Leon Hubert, Arthur Kinoy
La. Would Give Papers to SCEF
Documents Taken in Raid on Headquarters
Ass't AG John E. Jackson
docs turned over to Orleans Parish DA
Milton Brener, atty for Dombrowski
$200k damage suit
insurance policy, stock certificates among papers seized
ADA Charles Ward
Papers in SCEF Raid Returned
Dombrowski, Brener and D.A. Office Agree
stipulation that photostats or other copies may be used in court
High Court Rules 5-2 in Case Involving SCEF
To Help in 'Free Speech in Louisiana' - Rubin
Two U.S. Judges Stay Enforcement
Dombroski, SCEF, Ben Smith, Bruce Waltzer
temp. injunction pending hearing
Jesse Knowles, new LUAC chmn, Maj. Russell Willie
attempt to pass new statute that would withstand court test
Fund to Move Headquarters
Knowles Says Exposure Causes Action
SCEF moving to Louisville, KY
Eastland Wins in SCEF Appeal
Wash(AP)
Feb 13, 1966 S1-P20
Protest March Staged Uptown
Demonstrators Cheered, Jeered, Hit by Eggs
Benjamin Smith & wife
counter demonstrators:
Kent Courtney
Carlos Bringuier
Pfister Held Not Immune to Suit
Pfister's legislative immunity at issue
SCEF has affidavits from some LUAC members claiming they did not
know about raid before hand
AD: Let's Stop the War
Alan E. Helseth, Matt Herron, H.W. Kloepfer, Robert Zellner
New Democrat Group Formed
State Organization to Back McCarthy
will work with Leander Perez for primary
Two Attorneys Give Testimony
They Allege Harassment in Rights Cases
Ben Smith, John P. Nelson
Vietnam Policy Attacked Here
Dissenting Demo Favors Dismissing Rusk
Conference of Concerned Demos
Benjamin E. Smith
Group's Charge Retracted
to drop $750K damage suit
Harold Montgomery refused to sign
[good quotes]
edited by David J. Garrow
Univerity Publications of America, Frederick MD, c1984-c1987.
F. J. Baumgardner to W. C. Sullivan
The SCEF is currently under investigation as a Communist Party
front group...