Lawyers Protest

A national lawyers' organization which includes three Law School professors has sent a letter to the Attorney General protesting the Justice Department's recent ruling that a Canadian anti-nuclear movie is "propaganda."

The ruling means that the distributor of the film in this country must inform the Justice Department about the groups who order the movie, and where, when, and to how many people the movie is to be shown.

The ruling pointed to a 1948 law that requires Justice Department approval of all foreign films. But Law School professor Laurence H. Tribe '62, a member of the Lawyers Alliance for Nuclear Arms Control, said that the Justice Department is "flagrantly violating the First Amendment."

"There's no doubt at all that the power the government is asserting [by labeling the film 'propaganda'] is a form of censorship," added Tribe. "It's a particularly tragic area for the government to be imposing censorship."

The alliance hopes that Attorney General William French Smith will reconsider the decision and remove the stipulations now imposed on the distributor, but doesn't expect a response until next week.

Abram Chayes '43, a Law School professor who serves on the Alliance's national advisory board, said. "I think the Justice Department is making a fool of itself Providing a list of exhibitors strikes me as entirely inappropriate."

But Chayes doubted that the Justice Department would reconsider its decision.

The Alliance's decision to protest the ruling, announced by Sherr at a Monday news conference at its Boston headquarters, is its most public move since its formation in January 1982. The Alliance, which has 3500 members nationwide, has so far concentrated on improving negotiation and verification procedures and on legal questions raised by various aspects of the arms buildup.