Judges Say Klan Can Hold Rally in Manhattan

In a blow to New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, two federal judges ruled Thursday that a Ku Klux Klan group can hold a “white pride” rally in Manhattan this weekend wearing robes and masks.

U.S. District Judges Harold Baer and Alvin Hellerstein said that the city could not withhold parade or sound permits from the Butler, Ind.-based Church of the American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan because the group planned to disguise their identities.

In a decision announced following a late afternoon hearing, the judges said the city’s requirement that the group remove their masks in order to obtain permits would discourage free speech and the group’s exercise of its 1st Amendment rights.

The Klan group plans to demonstrate in front of a state courthouse in lower Manhattan on Saturday afternoon, but city lawyers said they would try to block the masked rally by filing an immediate appeal with the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.

The city had denied the permits to the Klan group, citing a state anti-mask law and the group responded with a free speech lawsuit on Tuesday. The Klan, which described itself as “vilified,” argued that the 1st Amendment allows members to wear masks in public.