Local News in Brief : Speedy Ruling Sought

Lawyers for eight Los Angeles-area aliens accused of subversion under the McCarran-Walter Act will urge the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to expedite a ruling on the McCarthy-Era law.

Lead attorney Dan Stormer of Los Angeles said Friday that papers will be filed within 10 days in San Francisco “to remind the court that we’re out there and we’re concerned and that we don’t want the case to sit on the back burner. We’re asking the court to strike down McCarran-Walter.”

Stormer’s clients--seven Jordanians and a Kenyan--were charged under the act last December with advocating world communism because of their alleged association with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Last May, U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson ruled that he lacked authority to decide whether McCarran-Walter is constitutional, declaring that the ruling should be left to the appellate courts.