Edward J. Ennis (1908–1990) was an American civil rights lawyer. He worked for the

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

in the 1930s and 1940s, where as director of the alien enemy control unit he oversaw the

Japanese American internment During World War II, the United States forcibly relocated and incarcerated about 120,000 people of Japanese descent in ten concentration camps operated by the War Relocation Authority (WRA), mostly in the western interior of the country. Abou ...

. He contributed to the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...

's efforts to fight the internment, and after World War II resigned from the Department of Justice to join the ACLU, where he rose up through the organization and eventually served as its president from 1969 to 1976.

Career

Ennis graduated from

Columbia University Law School Columbia Law School (CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. The school was founded in 1858 as the Columbia College Law School. The university is known for its legal scholarship dating ba ...

in 1932, and went on to work for the

for fourteen years. He was a member of the

National Lawyers Guild The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) is a progressive public interest association of lawyers, law students, paralegals, jailhouse lawyers, law collective members, and other activist legal workers, in the United States. The group was founded in 193 ...

in the 1930s, but withdrew from the organization, believing it to be under the influence of Communists. He held a variety of positions in the Department of Justice, including as

general counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...

for the

Immigration and Naturalization Service The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was a United States federal government agency under the United States Department of Labor from 1933 to 1940 and under the United States Department of Justice from 1940 to 2003. Refe ...

, director of the alien enemy control unit, and administrator of foreign travel control. His role made him the administrator of the

. Ennis chose not resign from his role at that time, but he did help

head Roger Baldwin to come up with legal strategies to oppose the internment, and testified at the trial of

Gordon Hirabayashi was an American sociologist, best known for his principled resistance to the Japanese American internment during World War II, and the court case which bears his name, ''Hirabayashi v. United States''. Early life Hirabayashi was born in Seattle ...

about the Department of War's withholding of evidence relating to Japanese Americans' loyalty to the United States. In 1946, Ennis did resign from the Department of Justice, and joined the board of the ACLU himself. He became the ACLU's general counsel in 1955, and was elected chairman of the ACLU in 1969, succeeding Ernest Angell who was retiring after 19 years with the organization. He served as ACLU president until 1976, during which time he called for the resignation of President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

and an end to the property

tax exemption Tax exemption is the reduction or removal of a liability to make a compulsory payment that would otherwise be imposed by a ruling power upon persons, property, income, or transactions. Tax-exempt status may provide complete relief from taxes, redu ...

enjoyed by religious organizations. Notwithstanding the former, he was critical of the zealousness of opposition to Nixon shown by Charles Morgan, Jr. of the ACLU's Washington, D.C. office. He was succeeded as ACLU president by Norman Dorsen. He remained a member of the ACLU executive committee until 1985.

Death

Ennis died of

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

complications on January 7, 1990, at

Lenox Hill Hospital Lenox Hill Hospital (LHH) is a nationally ranked 450 bed non-profit, Tertiary care, tertiary, research and academic medical center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, servicing the tri-state area. LHH is one of the reg ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He was survived by his wife Marie Joyce and his stepson Mark C. Zauderer.

Footnotes

References

* * 1908 births 1990 deaths 20th-century American lawyers American civil rights lawyers Columbia Law School alumni Deaths from diabetes in New York (state) Presidents of the American Civil Liberties Union United States Department of Justice lawyers {{US-law-bio-stub