ACLU Petitions Supreme Court To Overturn Arkansas
BDS Law
Allan C. Brownfeld, Editor
Special Interest Report
December 2022
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court
over an Arkansas law that prohibits companies from boycotting Israel.
The ACLU is acting in behalf of the Arkansas Times, a weekly alternative paper
based in Little Rock. In 2017, Arkansas passed legislation targeting the
boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS) effort that aims to hold Israel
accountable to its obligations under international law. In 2018, the University
of Arkansas’s Pulaski Technical College informed the paper that it would have to
sign a pledge not to boycott Israel if they wanted to maintain their advertising
contract with school. Alan Leverett declined to sign the document and sued the
state over the law.
In June, the eighth circuit court of appeals upheld the law. Alan Leverett
states that, “The Arkansas Times…is not boycotting anyone. However, we object
to the state requiring us to take a political position on behalf of a foreign
government in order to receive advertising from our local government. As
Americans it is our right to boycott or not boycott anyone, we please…Going back
to the Boston Tea Party, the Montgomery bus boycott to the South Africa anti-
apartheid boycotts, choosing to vote with your dollars is as American as voting
with our ballots.” The Supreme Court will decide whether to review the Arkansas
case during this term. **
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