LDF Files Two Muhammad Ali Cases in One Week

    [AACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. 

» President 
Hon. Francis F. 

PRESS RELEASE Ditector-Gommsed 
egal efense lund Jack Greenberg 

Director, Public Relations 
Jesse DeVore, Jr. 

10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 * JUdson 6-8397 NIGHT NUMBER 212-749-8487 

S25 

FOR RELEASE 

Tuesday, November 11, 1969 

LDF FILES TWO MUHAMMAD 

ALI CASES IN ONE WEEK 

Rights To Box and Draft Deferment Sought 

NEW YORK-~Muhammad Ali's right to box in New York State was called 

for in a suit filed this week in U. S. District Court here by the 

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF). 

The State Athletic Commission “arbitrarily, capriciously, 
and unreasonably refused to renew plaintiff's professional boxer's 

license for a reason which has no rational connection with plain- 

tiff's fitness or capacity to discharge the duties of the boxing 
profession," LDF attorneys asserted. 

(Meanwhile, in the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans, LDF 

attorneys sought reversal of the draft evasion conviction of 

Mr. Ali.) 

(They challenged the legality of the government's practice 

of wire tapping as used in Mr. Ali's case as well as systematic 

exclusion of Negroes from draft boards.) 

These suits bring the nation's largest private civil rights 
legal organization to Mr. Ali's assistance. 

The LDF's New York complaint noted that on September 22, Mr. 

Ali applied to the Commission for renewal of his boxer's license. 

On October 14, the Commission unanimously voted to deny the 

application on the basis of his conviction for refusing to submit 

to induction in the Armed Services. 

According to the LDF complaint, the Commission stated that 

his participation in boxing events in the State was “detrimental 

to the best interest of boxing or to the public interest, con- 

venience or necessity." 

The complaint asserted that failure to renew the license 

denied Ali's constitutional rights to due process of law, to 

equal protection of the laws and to freedom of religion. 

The suit also stated that barring him "from the right to 

earn a livelihood as a professional athlete during those few 
remaining years in which he can expect to be gainfully employed" 

constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. 

The Commission, according to the LDF, has violated Mr. Ali's 

rights under the First, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the 

Constitution. 

The attorneys cite Mr. Ali's work as a minister of the Nation 

of Islam, having "taught and preached his faith at Muslim Temples, 

in ghetto streets, and at schools and colleges all over the nation. 

"He has counseled teenage gangs such as the Blackstone Rangers 

of Chicago, Ill." in efforts to bring community peace and harmony. 

According to Michael Meltsner, the LDF's First Assistant 
Counsel: 



MUHAMMAD ALI'S RIGHT TO BOX -2- November 7, 1969 
IN NEW YORK SOUGHT BY LDF 

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund believes that the State 
of New York has unlawfully denied Muhammad Ali a 
renewal of his boxing license. His conviction for 
refusing to submit to induction in the Armed Forces 
has nothing to do with his ability to box. His 
character and sincerity are not in doubt. His 
ability is beyond question. He should not be denied 
the right to earn a livelihood in the few years re- 
maining in his career. 

Mr. Ali was convicted in 1967 of refusing to submit to 
induction into the Armed Services in a Texas federal court, but 
later the Supreme Court of the United States remanded the case 
for reconsideration. On July 24, 1969 the Texas court resentenced 
Mr. Ali to five years in prison md a $10,000 fine. The case is 
presently being appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Fifth 
Circuit. 

Mr. Ali's license to box in New York State was “indefinitely 
suspended" by the Commission on April 28, 1967, the same day he 
refused to submit to induction. 

=30- 

NOTE: Please bear in mind that the LDF is a completely separate 
and distinct organization even though we were established by the 
NAACP and retain those initials in our name. Our correct desig- 
nation is NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., fre- 
quently shortened to LDF.