Keene v. Smith

569 F. Supp. 1513, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13999
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedSeptember 7, 1983
DocketCIV. S-83-287 RAR
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 569 F. Supp. 1513 (Keene v. Smith) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Keene v. Smith, 569 F. Supp. 1513, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13999 (E.D. Cal. 1983).

Opinion

*1515 FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

RAMIREZ, District Judge.

On May 23, 1983, the above-entitled matter came on regularly for hearing on plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction and defendants’ motion to dismiss. Having read and considered the memoranda submitted by counsel, the attachments thereto, the pleadings, and the arguments of respective counsel, the Court herein grants plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction and denies defendants’ motion to dismiss. The following shall constitute the Court’s Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52(a).

FINDINGS OF FACT

I

The present action challenges the constitutionality of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, 22 U.S.C. §§ 611, et seq. inasmuch as plaintiff contends that certain portions of the Act violate the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which provides in relevant part:

Congress shall make no law .. . abridging the freedom of speech ....

II

Plaintiff is a member of the California State Senate- and a member of the California State Bar. He desires to exhibit three films produced by the National Film Board of Canada which bear the titles, If You Love This Planet, Acid Rain: Requiem or Recovery, and Acid From Heaven. The former addresses the possible state of the earth and society after a nuclear holocaust; the latter two films address the problem of the acidification of atmospheric precipitation by exposure to sulfur dioxide in the air, commonly known as acid rain. Plaintiff alleges he is deterred from exhibiting the films by a statutory characterization of the films as “political propaganda.” Plaintiff further alleges that if he were to exhibit the films while they bore such characterization, his personal, political, and professional reputation would suffer and his ability to obtain re-election and to practice his profession would be impaired.

III

Defendants are, respectively, the Attorney General of the United States and the Chief of the Registration Unit of the Internal Security Section of the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice. Responsibility for the administration and enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act is vested in the Attorney General, who has delegated his authority to an appropriate officer. 28 U.S.C. § 510; 28 C.F.R. § 0.61(b), 28 C.F.R. Part 5 (1982).

IV

Section 2 of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, 22 U.S.C. § 612, requires each “agent of a foreign principal,” defined by § 1(c), 22 U.S.C. § 611(c), to register as such with the Attorney General of the United States. The National Film Board of Canada has so registered.

V

Section 4 of the Act, 22 U.S.C. § 614, requires all registrants to supply the Attorney General with two copies of any “political propaganda” intended for dissemination in the United States. “Political propaganda” is defined, in relevant part, as follows:

The term “political propaganda” includes any oral, visual, graphic, written, pictorial, or other communication or expression by any person (1) which is reasonably adapted to, or which the person disseminating the same believes will, or which he intends to, prevail upon, indoctrinate, convert, induce, or in any other way influence a recipient or any section of the public within the United States with reference to the political or public interests, policies, or relations of a government of a foreign county or a foreign political party or with reference to the foreign policies of the United States or promote in the United States racial, religious, or social dissensions ....

*1516 22 U.S.C. § 611(j). Section 4 of the Act further prohibits the dissemination, in the United States, by any registrant, of any “political propaganda” unless the material is “conspicuously marked” at its beginning with a four-component statement. The four components of the required statement are: (1) “the relationship or connection between the person transmitting the political propaganda or causing it to be transmitted and such propaganda,” (2) the fact that the supplier of the material is an agent of a foreign principal, (3) the fact that the supplier’s registration statement is available for public inspection in Washington, D.C., and (4) that the registration of agents of foreign principals by the United States does not indicate approval by the United States of the material.

VI

Section 10 of the Act, 22 U.S.C. § 620, authorizes the Attorney General to adopt regulations to implement the Act. Pursuant to that authority, the Attorney General adopted regulations which authorize slightly different treatment of films:

Unless specifically directed to do so by the Assistant Attorney General, a registrant is not required to file- two copies of a motion picture containing political propaganda which he disseminates on behalf of his foreign principal, so long as he files monthly reports on its dissemination. In each such case this registrant shall submit to the Registration Unit either a film strip showing the label required by section 4(b) of the Act or an affidavit certifying that the required label has been made a part of the film.

28 C.F.R. § 5.400(c).

VII

From the materials submitted to the Court, the Court infers that the National Film Board of Canada does not routinely affix the § 4 label to all of the films that it distributes in the United States. Instead, it would appear that the Film Board transmits a list of all of its films to the Registration Unit which then requests copies of the films which the unit believes fall within the statutory definition of “political propaganda.” Upon receipt of the requested copies, the unit determines whether any of the films are “political propaganda” within the meaning of the Act. If any film is determined to be “political propaganda,” the Registration Unit so informs the Film Board which then must affix the § 4 label to the copies of the film and file the Dissemination Reports required by the Act, 22 U.S.C.

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Related

Meese v. Keene
481 U.S. 465 (Supreme Court, 1987)
Keene v. Meese
619 F. Supp. 1111 (E.D. California, 1985)
Block v. Smith
583 F. Supp. 1288 (District of Columbia, 1984)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
569 F. Supp. 1513, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13999, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/keene-v-smith-caed-1983.