Greenberg v. Murphy
| Decision Date | 30 June 1971 |
| Docket Number | No. 71 Civ. 2478.,71 Civ. 2478. |
| Citation | 329 F. Supp. 37 |
| Parties | Rabbi Irving GREENBERG et al., Plaintiffs, v. Patrick V. MURPHY, Police Commissioner of the City of New York, John V. Lindsay, Mayor of the City of New York, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
Burt Neuborne, New York City, for plaintiffs.
J. Lee Rankin, Corporation Counsel, New York City, for defendants.
The plaintiffs purportedly acting on their own behalf and on behalf of all others similarly situated are four Rabbis who wish to protest the treatment by the Soviet Union of Jews in that country by dramatizing "plaintiffs' request that the United States Government utilize its good offices to attempt to mitigate the harshness of the current wave of anti-Jewish activity sweeping the Soviet Union." They have offered no evidence that the United States Government has, in fact, refused its good offices.
The plaintiffs have instituted this action for a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief predicating jurisdiction of this Court on 28 U.S.C. Section 1343(3) claiming that the plaintiffs are being deprived of rights, privileges and immunities guaranteed to them under the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. The plaintiffs have also moved for a preliminary injunction against the Police Commissioner and the Mayor of the City of New York. They seek to prevent the Police Commissioner and the Mayor from enforcing their regulations concerning picketing near the "United Nations headquarters district." They contend that by prohibiting picketing in the "immediate vicinity" of the United States Mission to the United Nations the defendants are depriving plaintiffs of their rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution. The defendants contend that the plaintiffs' rights have not been violated and that the regulations in question are reasonable and necessary in view of the topographic and physical circumstances presented at the United Nations headquarters district.
The United Nations headquarters district is an area six city blocks long and one avenue block wide. It is bounded on the north by East 48th Street, on the south by East 42nd Street, on the east by Franklin Delano Roosevelt Drive, and on the west by First Avenue. The United States Mission is located on the west side of First Avenue and 45th Street.
The defendants rely upon the reasonableness of their non-discriminatory regulation which will be set forth herein. The City of New York points out that the plaintiffs and all others are in fact permitted to demonstrate within the immediate vicinity of the United States Mission although picketing directly in front of the United States Mission on the west side of First Avenue is prohibited to all. The Police Order provides for six areas, all visible from the United States Mission from which up to 5,000 people can direct their message. As to the United States Mission itself the Order permits "token picketing only" in the area between 44th and 45th Streets and on 45th Street at the side of the building.
Small escorted groups are permitted to approach the front of the United States Mission for a short time while arrangements are made for one or two of the group to present a petition for the redress of grievances to an officer of the Mission. Also a small group of demonstrators, not more than fifteen, are permitted to picket on the northerly side of 45th Street facing an entrance to the Mission and within view of its employees. This procedure provides free access to the Mission by diplomats on official business.
The Order further provides: "As a matter of policy, picketing will not be permitted on the east side of First Avenue, in front of the United Nations headquarters." The Order makes further reference to various limitations imposed by the agreement between the United States and the United Nations, ratified by the Congress. It was conceded by the plaintiffs at the argument that the City of New York has not been discriminatory in the application of these Police regulations.
I find that the City of New York has ample Constitutional authority to prevent the plaintiffs from picketing and demonstrating in front of the United States Mission to the United Nations on the west side of First Avenue, as well as the south side of 45th Street in front of the building.
The general area in which the limitation on demonstrations is imposed and which includes the area directly in front of the United States Mission involves an area of five short city blocks on the westerly side of First Avenue.
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Concerned Jewish Youth v. McGuire, 228
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