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AAA: Assembly Files Amicus Brief in Genocide Denial Case

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  • AAA: Assembly Files Amicus Brief in Genocide Denial Case

    Armenian Assembly of America
    1140 19th Street, NW, Suite 600
    Washington, DC 20036
    Phone: 202-393-3434
    Fax: 202-638-4904
    Email: [email protected]
    Web: www.armenianassembly.org

    PRESS RELEASE
    March 7, 2006
    CONTACT: Christine Kojoian
    E-mail: [email protected]


    ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY FILES AMICUS BRIEF IN GENOCIDE DENIAL CASE

    Washington, DC - On March 8, the Armenian Assembly filed an amicus
    curiae ("friend of the court") brief in the matter of Driscoll
    v. Griswold ("The Genocide Denial Case") arguing that the Assembly of
    Turkish American Associations (ATAA) and its co-plaintiffs must be
    prevented from injecting genocide denial materials into the
    Massachusetts school curriculum.

    The brief supports the right of the Massachusetts Department of
    Education to teach the facts of the Armenian Genocide to public school
    students without including denialist materials.

    The brief states in part:

    "This lawsuit is an unprecedented attempt by the plaintiffs to utilize
    the federal courts as a vehicle for their unconstitutional intrusion
    into educational policy in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts....It is
    not for this Court to decide the appropriate curriculum in
    Massachusetts public schools."

    The Massachusetts school curriculum ensures that the lessons of the
    Holocaust, Armenian Genocide, Irish Famine and other crimes against
    humanity are not forgotten and are thus taught in the classrooms.

    Additionally, the Assembly argues that the case should be dismissed
    because the plaintiffs have not established a basis for challenging
    curricular choices based on the First Amendment.

    "No court in the country ever has recognized a First Amendment injury
    from having curriculum or a curriculum guide advance a particular
    viewpoint," the Assembly brief states.

    "The Assembly's amicus brief forcefully supports the Commonwealth's
    unassailable legal position regarding the Curriculum Guide on the
    Armenian Genocide, of which the plaintiffs have no legal case to
    object," said Assembly Board of Trustees Vice President and Counselor
    Robert A. Kaloosdian. "The brief reaffirms the incontrovertible fact
    of the Armenian Genocide and thus exposes the revisionism and
    denialist tactics employed by those who seek to deny the historical
    truth."

    To read the amicus curiae brief or other pleadings filed in this case,
    visit the "Genocide Denial Case" section on the Assembly's home page
    at www.aaainc.org.

    The Armenian Assembly is the largest Washington-based nationwide
    organization promoting public understanding and awareness of Armenian
    issue. It is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.


    ###


    NR#2006-021

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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