Federal judge strikes down N.Y. ban on masks at public gatherings
By The Associated Press
11.20.02
NEW YORK — A law banning masks at public gatherings was ruled unconstitutional yesterday by a federal judge who said Klansmen can hide their faces "even in time of war, including the war on terrorism."
U.S. District Judge Harold Baer Jr. said the First Amendment required him to reject a state law finding a person guilty of loitering for joining others in "being masked or in any manner disguised by unusual or unnatural attire or facial alteration."
In ruling in favor of the Church of the American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Baer wrote that he was "mindful of the delicate climate that pervades the city and the rest of the country today."
"Recent events have brought us to an elemental crossroads where civil liberties are embattled against our concerns for national security," he said. "While clearly a commitment to constitutional principles must not be a suicide pact, the rational and measured exercise of jurisprudence must be zealously sustained even in time of war, including the war on terrorism."
He said the city, which promised to appeal his decision, engaged in viewpoint discrimination when it applied the law to the Klan but not to other similarly situated groups.
He added, "No one disputes the fact that plaintiff is a notorious racist organization, at least not this court. The focus here, however, is on constitutional protections."
The ruling stemmed from an October 1999 Manhattan event in which Klan members assembled without their hoods. Afterward, they pursued the case in court, contending they wanted to stage future events while masked.
Gabriel Taussig, chief of the city law department's Administrative Law Division, said the city was "highly disappointed."
"We think the decision is legally wrong. Moreover, we fear it deprives the Police Department of an important enforcement tool," he said.
He said the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had indicated its views on the subject when it permitted the city to enforce the law in 1999, forcing the Klan members to gather without their hoods.
Taussig called that ruling "a good indication that we will prevail on the appeal."
Norman Siegel, a civil rights attorney who pressed the case when he headed the New York Civil Liberties Union, praised Baer's ruling.
He called the opinion "a significant First Amendment decision that upholds the right of anonymous speech, which will be important to not only the KKK but to all political groups and all ideological expression."
"The decision says all speech, including repugnant, bigoted and wrong-minded expression, is protected under the First Amendment," he said.