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Bulletin #1698 1955 PICKETING OFMOVIE COMPANY OFF ES DEFEIDED AS FREE SPEECH A recent attempt by Columbia Pictures Corporation to halt picketing of'its. offices or distribution of communications terming it "unfair" drew a protest from the. Minnesota Branch of the American Civil Liberties Union. 'In a friend of the court brief filed with the U.s. District Court in hinneap. olis, the Aclu opposed on free speech grounds Columbia's petition for an injunction.. The order was sought against a group of independent theatre owners and their associa-- tion, North Central Aliied, which had objected to film rentals demanded by Columbia. They picketed Columbia's Minneapolis office with signs declaring: . #Columbia is Unfair to the Independent Theatre Owners,n and planned to. issue bulletins concerning their. dispute with the movie conpany.. Considering only the'civil liberties issues involved, the Aclu brief opposed Columbiats. complaint on grounds that! - upicketing is a means of expression protected by the constitutional of free speech..... guarante "Speech, whether by verbal utterance, picketing or.other publication, may be punished if it transgresses legal limits, but may not be subject to prior restraint. y injunction or otherwise. the commission of an unlawful act. It is not justified merely because the pickets, or- their-principals, are-concomitantly-engaging in some other illegal activity..... nThe court cannot control or forbid expression because of an allegation,. honsion or fact that in content it may be inaccurate, unreasonable, or false."!. appr Libel and slander laws protect persons and firms from unrestrained attack. was pointed out. . The suit was finally dropped, after the defendant agreed to refrain from picketing for the present. The Minnesota AcLu had hoped the case would advance. favorable decision for the theatre owners. CALIFCRNIA ZONING LAW HELD INVALID IN CHURCH CASE A unanimous three-man state District Court of Appeals declared unconstitution. al a Piedmont, California ordinance banming the building of a private Catholic school. which the Aclu of Northern California filed friend of the court briefs along withy other organizations. The court ordered the city to. issue a building permit to the. church organization for a parochial school.... Stitutional right to have their children educated in schools of their own choice, CIVIL RIGHTS CGSPLAINTS ARISE IN OKINAWA Okinawa, main island of the Ryukyu group betreen Japan and Formosa and the?. Union. The complaints came from Okinawans resident in Japan. The Union has taken up. tion changes in administration. Okinawa is the only area remaining'where U.s. mili. tary rule is complete.: The islands are held in trust by the U.s. under 'the Japanese peace ceizures of farm land for military use without adequate.compensation or settlement elsewhere. The Union has made a series of' suggestions to the military authorities for ex security.