Thomas I. Emerson (1907–1991) was a 20th-century American attorney and professor of law. He is known as a "major architect of civil liberties law,"
[
] "arguably the foremost First Amendment scholar of his generation,"
[
] and "pillar of the
Bill of Rights
A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pr ...
."
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]
Background
Thomas Irwin Emerson was born in 1907 in
Passaic, New Jersey
Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city had a total population of 70,537, ranking as the 16th largest municipality in New Jersey and an increase of 656 from the 69,7 ...
. In 1928, he graduated from
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
. In 1931, he graduated from
Yale Law School
Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & World ...
, where future Supreme Court Justice
William O. Douglas was
his professor.
[
]
Career
Private practice
In 1931, Emerson joined Engelhard, Pollak, Pitcher & Stern (earlier Simpson, Warren & Cardozo
Cardozo is a Portuguese and Spanish surname. It is an archaic spelling of the surname "Cardoso (surname), Cardoso".
Notable people with this surname
*Aaron Cardozo (1762–1834), Gibraltarian consul for Tunis and Algiers
*Albert Cardozo (1828–18 ...
and later Engelhard, Pollak, Pitcher, Stern & Clarke). Emerson worked primarily for Carl Stern Carl may refer to:
*Carl, Georgia, city in USA
*Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
*Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name
*Carl², a TV series
* "Carl", an episode of tel ...
and Walter Pollak
Walter Pollak (1887–1940) was a 20th-century American civil liberties lawyer, who established important precedents while working with other leading radical lawyers in the 1920s and 1930s. His best known cases involved the defense before the Supr ...
.[ Colleagues there include]
Arthur H. Goldberg
With law firm colleague Walter Pollak
Walter Pollak (1887–1940) was a 20th-century American civil liberties lawyer, who established important precedents while working with other leading radical lawyers in the 1920s and 1930s. His best known cases involved the defense before the Supr ...
served the defense team that helped appeal convictions of the " Scottsboro Boys" in ''Powell v. Alabama
''Powell v. Alabama'', 287 U.S. 45 (1932), was a landmark United States Supreme Court decision in which the Court reversed the convictions of nine young black men for allegedly raping two white women on a freight train near Scottsboro, Alabama. T ...
'' (1932).[
]
Public service
In July 1933,[ Emerson joined the ]New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Con ...
of US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
by serving at the National Recovery Administration
The National Recovery Administration (NRA) was a prime agency established by U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) in 1933. The goal of the administration was to eliminate " cut throat competition" by bringing industry, labor, and governm ...
(NRA), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the Social Security Board (1936[), back to the NLRB in the summer of 1937, becoming assistant general counsel in charge of their review section in November 1937 and associated general counsel in August 1939.][ He then joined the ]US Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...
. During World War II, he served as general counsel at the Office of Economic Stabilization The Office of Economic Stabilization was established within the United States Office for Emergency Management on October 3, 1942, pursuant to the Stabilization Act of 1942, as a means to control inflation during World War II through regulations on ...
and the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion.[
]
Academic
In 1946, Emerson returned to Yale as a professor of law, and taught there for more than three decades.[ ]Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...
, Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
, Robert Reich
Robert Bernard Reich (; born June 24, 1946) is an American professor, author, lawyer, and political commentator. He worked in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, and served as Secretary of Labor from 1993 to 1997 in ...
, and Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to succeed Thurgood Marshall and has served since 1 ...
were among some of his students.
Politics
In 1948, Emerson ran for governor of Connecticut on the ticket of the 1948 Progressive Party, whose US presidential candidate was former US Vice President Henry A. Wallace
Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888 – November 18, 1965) was an American politician, journalist, farmer, and businessman who served as the 33rd vice president of the United States, the 11th U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, and the 10th U.S. ...
.[
] He was also Connecticut state chairman of the Progressive Party.[
] In 1950, UN Ambassador Aleš Bebler planned to invite Henry A Wallace and Thomas I. Emerson to his country Yugoslavia.
Major cases
Emerson's successful argument before the United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
include:
* 1957:
** '' Sweezy v. New Hampshire'' (academic freedom related to Marxist
Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...
economist Paul Sweezy)[
** '' Watkins v. United States'' (]contempt of Congress
Contempt of Congress is the act of obstructing the work of the United States Congress or one of its committees. Historically, the bribery of a U.S. senator or U.S. representative was considered contempt of Congress. In modern times, contempt of C ...
by HUAC
The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...
against First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
rights of John Thomas Watkins, United Auto Workers
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers (UAW), is an American Labor unions in the United States, labor union that represents workers in the Un ...
union official)[
* 1965: '' Griswold v. Connecticut'' (contraceptives as part of privacy rights for Estelle Griswold of New Haven's ]Planned Parenthood
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...
Center)[
During the 1960s, Emerson supported efforts to secure the release of ]Morton Sobell
Morton Sobell (April 11, 1917 – December 26, 2018) was an American engineer and Soviet spy during and after World War II; he was charged as part of a conspiracy which included Julius Rosenberg and his wife. Sobell worked on military and gover ...
, convicted in 1951 of espionage as part of the case of Julius Rosenberg
Julius Rosenberg (May 12, 1918 – June 19, 1953) and Ethel Rosenberg (; September 28, 1915 – June 19, 1953) were American citizens who were convicted of spying on behalf of the Soviet Union. The couple were convicted of providing top-secret i ...
and Ethel Rosenberg
Julius Rosenberg (May 12, 1918 – June 19, 1953) and Ethel Rosenberg (; September 28, 1915 – June 19, 1953) were American citizens who were convicted of spying on behalf of the Soviet Union. The couple were convicted of providing top-secret i ...
.[
]
Associations
Emerson 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 19 ...
and served as its national president (1950–1951).[ He refused to quit the organization when president, despite its labeling at a Communist front.][ Previously, he was a member of the ]International Juridical Association
The International Juridical Association (IJA; 1931–1942) was an association of socially minded American lawyers, established by Carol Weiss King
and considered by the U.S. federal government (in the form of the U.S. House Un-American Activities ...
(IJA).[
]
Emerson was also a member of the American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
(ACLU), in which he was active,[ as well as the New Haven Civil Liberties Council (later Connecticut Civil Liberties Union).][ He also co-founded the ]Emergency Civil Liberties Committee The National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee (NECLC), until 1968 known as the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee, was an organization formed in the United States in October 1951 by 150 educators and clergymen to advocate for the civil liberties ...
(ECLC).[ He joined the National Committee to Abolish the House Un-American Activities Committee and also the National Committee Against Repressive Legislation; he opposed the Federal Loyalty Program of US President Harry S. Truman.][ His support for civil liberties led the ]Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice ...
to keep a file on him from 1941 to 1977.[
]
Congressional testimony
On February 28, 1940, Emerson testified with other members of the NLRB, his case with regard to "the present state of the Board's
docket, as far as concerns the question of delay in the issuance of Board decisions."[
On April 4, 1950, Emerson appeared bore HUAC as a representative of the 1948 Progressive Party.][
In 1953, Emerson was mentioned in hearings of a House Select Committee to Investigate Tax-exempt Foundations and Comparable Organizations. The proceedings note allegedly subversive activities:
* 1930s: Co-authored "What is the I.J.A.?" by the International Juridical Association, "an offshoot of ]International Labor Defense
The International Labor Defense (ILD) (1925–1947) was a legal advocacy organization established in 1925 in the United States as the American section of the Comintern's International Red Aid network. The ILD defended Sacco and Vanzetti, was activ ...
," legal arm of the CPUSA
The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
* 1940s: Co-sponsored the Southern Conference for Human Welfare, cited by HUAC in 1944 as a "Communist front"
* 1944: Served on committees of the National Lawyers Guild, cited by House Report No. 3123 of 1950 as "the foremost legal bulwark of the Communist Party
* 1948: Co-signed a letter in defense of the Jefferson School of Social Science, listed on the 1947 AGLOSO
* 1949:
** Co-sponsored the Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace
The World Peace Council (WPC) is an international organization with the self-described goals of advocating for universal disarmament, sovereignty and independence and peaceful co-existence, and campaigns against imperialism, weapons of mass de ...
in New York City (March 25–27, 1949), held under the auspices of the National Council of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions
** Spoke to the United Public Workers of America
The United Public Workers of America (1946–1952) was an American labor union representing federal, state, county, and local government employees. The union challenged the constitutionality of the Hatch Act of 1939, which prohibited federal exec ...
, a CIO union
** Sponsored a meeting of the Civil Rights Congress
The Civil Rights Congress (CRC) was a United States civil rights organization, formed in 1946 at a national conference for radicals and disbanded in 1956. It succeeded the International Labor Defense, the National Federation for Constitutional ...
, listed on the 1947 AGLOSO
* 1950:
** Appeared before Congress on behalf of the Communist-backed 1948 Progressive Party
** Co-signed a letter published in the ''Daily Worker
The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, attempts were m ...
'' to protest legal proceedings against lawyers defending CPUSA
The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
in the Foley Square trial
The Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders in New York City from 1949 to 1958 were the result of US federal government prosecutions in the postwar period and during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States. Leaders of the ...
* 1951:
** Signed a petition for the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee
Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee (JAFRC) was a nonprofit organization to provide humanitarian aid to refugees of the Spanish Civil War.
History
In 1941, the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee was formed by Lincoln Battalion veterans of t ...
, listed on the 1947 AGLOSO
** Received an award from the New York City Teachers Union
The New York City Teachers Union or "TU" (1916–1964) was the first New York labor union for teachers, formed as "AFT Local 5" of the American Federation of Teachers, which found itself hounded throughout its history due largely to co-membership ...
, another communist front[
]
Personal life and death
Emerson married Bertha Paret, with whom he had three children. He remarried Ruth Calvin.[
Thomas I. Emerson died age 83 on June 19, 1991, of a stroke at the Yale Health Services Center in New Haven.][
]
Awards
* 1952: Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the art ...
in Law
* 1983/4: Roger N. Baldwin Medal of Liberty from the ACLU
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". ...
[
]
Works
When ''Political and Civil Rights in the United States'' was published (during the McCarthy Era
McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner.
The term origina ...
, renowned American education philosopher Robert Maynard Hutchins
Robert Maynard Hutchins (January 17, 1899 – May 14, 1977) was an American educational philosopher. He was president (1929–1945) and chancellor (1945–1951) of the University of Chicago, and earlier dean of Yale Law School (1927–1929). His& ...
wrote, "This is the only comprehensive collection of cases and materials on the most important subject in the world today."[ The book foreshadowed the decision on '']Brown v. Board of Education
''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...
'' (1952).[ In 2019, when co-author David Haber died, ]Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...
's Peter Simons, former dean of the law school there, stated: "David and Thomas I. Emerson produced the first casebook on civil rights and liberties, thus promoting a new field of study in law schools. That book has remained in use, updated and revised by Norman Dorsen and other scholars from NYU. ."
Works at the Library of Congress and cited in current references to this entry:
* "What is the I.J.A.?" (undated)[
* "Loyalty Among Government Employees," ''Yale Law Journal'' with David M. Helfeld (1948)][
* ''Political and Civil Rights in the United States'' with David Haber (1952)][
* ''Toward a GeneralTheory of the First Amendment'' (1966)][
* "Freedom of Expression in Wartime" (1968)][
* ''A System of Freedom of Expression'' (1970)][
* ''The Bill of Rights Today'' (1970)
* "Freedom of the Press under the Burger Court" (1983)][
* ''Young Lawyer for the New Deal: An Insider’s Memoir of the Roosevelt Years'' (1991)][
]
(See "Thomas I. Emerson: Pillar of the Bill of Rights" for full bibliography.[)
]
See also
* Walter Pollak
Walter Pollak (1887–1940) was a 20th-century American civil liberties lawyer, who established important precedents while working with other leading radical lawyers in the 1920s and 1930s. His best known cases involved the defense before the Supr ...
* '' Sweezy v. New Hampshire''
* '' Watkins v. United States''
* '' Griswold v. Connecticut''
* 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 19 ...
References
External sources
* Thomas Irwin Emerson Papers (MS 1622). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.
Guggenheim: undated photo of Thomas I. Emerson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Emerson, Thomas I.
1907 births
1991 deaths
20th-century American lawyers
Yale University alumni
Yale Law School alumni