637 South Dearborn Street, Third Floor
Chicago, Illinois 60605
Ph: 312-913-0039
Fax: 312-913-0045
contact@nlgchicago.org
www.nlgchicago.org
"...to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests."
The National Lawyers Guild is dedicated to the need for basic and progressive change in the structure of our political and economic system. Through its members -- lawyers, law students, jailhouse lawyers, and
legal workers united in chapters and committees -- the Guild works locally, nationally and internationally as an effective political and social force in the service of the people.
Our aims:
. to eliminate racism;
. to safeguard and strengthen the rights of workers, women, farmers and minority groups, upon whom the welfare of the entire nation depends;
. to maintain and protect our civil rights and liberties in the face of persistent attacks upon them;
. to use the law as an instrument for the protection of the people, rather than for their repression.
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Dombrowksi v. Pfister, 380
U.S. 479 (1965)
1st & 14th Amendment case
Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. -- 1983 case
Federal injunctive relief against state prosecution threatening
constitutionally-protected expression
By winning, the "people's lawyers" vindicated a bold new legal strategy: Using
federal civil action to counterattack against unconstitutional "chilling" uses of
state law.
No First (or Sixth!) Amendment Here
Police cars and a moving van rolled up in front of the law office. The staff chief of
the state legislature's un-American affairs committee led a posse of county jail
prisoners in fatigues -- they were to do the literal heavy lifting. A cop swung a
sledge hammer and the door crashed down. Prisoners packed up a truckload of
confidential client file! s while the police and the professional red-baiter broke the
furniture.
Alerted too late, the lawyers rushed to their trashed office. One of the lawyers
called home, to learn that another raiding party was ransacking his house. When he got
there, he was arrested and hustled off to jail.
The other lawyer was nabbed later that afternoon. At the jail, he was pushed into a
cell with an activist he and his partner were representing. The activist jumped up to
embrace him, thinking his lawyer was there to spring him: "How'd you get here so
fast?" he asked. "I may be your lawyer, but I'm your cellmate this time," the
attorney replied. "We're in together on this one."
Thus began Dombrowski v. Pfister, the Supreme Court case that stopped the state of
Louisiana from using "subversive Activities and Communist Control" and "Communist
Propaganda Control" laws to intimidate the Civil Rights movement. The activist, Dr.
James Dombrowski, was executive director of the Southern Conference Educational
Fund, and was one of the few Southern white civil rights leaders. SCEF had been
founded in 1938.
The lawyers were Ben Smith, later to be the founding president of the Center for
Constitutional Rights in New York City, and Bruce Waltzer.
The city was New Orleans, and the prosecutor was Jim Garrison, later of Oliver
Stone's JFK fame.
Smith and Waltzer were indicted for failing to register as members "of a
Communist-front organization known as the National Lawyers Guild, which said
organization has been cited by committees and sub-committees of the United States
Congress as a Communist front organization".
Dombrowski and Smith (in his role as treasurer of SCEF) were indicted for failing to
register as members of "a Communist-front organization known as the Southern
Conference Educational Fund which has been cited by the committees of the United
States Congress as a Communist-front organization".
Additionally, Dombrowski and Smith were indicted as officers of a "subversive
organization."
In seeking a federal injunction against the state prosecution, NLG Luminaries Arthur
Kinoy and William M. Kunstler [link] raised legal eyebrows. Criminal
defendants were expected to litigate their constitutional claims in the state court in
which the prosecution was brought, not jump to federal court and try to block the
prosecution altogether. Federal equitable intervention in state court proceedings was
strictly limited. Considerations of federalism determined that ~Sorderly proceedings~T
in state courts should be let alone, unless appellants persuasively alleged
irreparable injury (a traditional doctrine of equity).
Precedent and statutory law were clear. The case was a loser. But, as Kinoy writes in
his autobiography [link],
As lawyers, we could not accept the concept that if
something was needed to protect people's constitutional
rights, there was nothing we could do to help when the
old cases said no. If the movement's ability to function
needed protection, it was our job as lawyers to find a way;
there was no other answer. The legal work of people's
lawyers must be totally integrated into the needs of the
movement. If the movement could not exercise its First
Amendment rights, then the lawyer had to figure out how
to remedy this situation fast.
Leon Hubert and Arthur Kinoy argued the case. Bill Kunstler, Michael J. Kunstler, and
A.P. Tureaud were on the brief with them. The NLG amicus brief was by Ernie Goodman
and David Rein.
Justice Brennan wrote for the Court.
"Dombrowski suits" immediately became one of the most valuable tools for lawyers
representing people's movements, as states struck back at civil rights, anti-war and
other political activists.
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