From: zhelp@zcommunications.org
Legendary Lawyer Doris Brin Walker Dies; Represented Angela Davis, Smith Act
Defendants
Aug 16, 2009 By Marjorie Cohn
Marjorie Cohn's ZSpace Page / ZSpace
Doris "Dobby" Brin Walker, the first woman president of the National Lawyers
Guild, died on August 13 at the age of 90. Doris was a brilliant lawyer and
a tenacious defender of human rights. The only woman in her University of
California Berkeley law school class, Doris defied the odds throughout her
life, achieving significant victories for labor, and political activists.
Doris' legal and political activism spanned several decades and some of the
most turbulent but significant periods in US history. She organized workers,
fought against Jim Crow and McCarthyism, was active in the civil rights and
anti-Vietnam War movements, and actively opposed the current wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan.
At UCLA, Doris became a marxist. After she was sworn in as a member of the
California State Bar, Doris joined the Communist Party USA, remaining a
member until her death. Upon graduation from law school, Doris began
practicing labor law; but a few years later, she went to work in California
canneries as a labor organizer. When Cutter Labs fired Doris in 1956, the
case was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. Although the Court
refused to hear the case, Justice Douglas, joined in dissent by Chief
Justice Warren and Justice Black, wrote, "The blunt truth is that Doris
Walker is not discharged for misconduct but either because of her legitimate
labor union activities or because of her political ideology or belief.
Belief cannot be penalized consistently with the First Amendment . . . The
Court today allows belief, not conduct, to be regulated. We sanction a
flagrant violation of the First Amendment when we allow California, acting
through her highest court, to sustain Mrs. Walker's discharge because of her
belief."
Doris returned to the practice of law and represented people charged under
the Alien Registration Act of 1940 (the Smith Act) in California. The Act
required all resident aliens to register with the government, enacted
procedures to facilitate deportation, and made it a crime for any person to
knowingly or willfully advocate the overthrow of the government by force or
violence. The work of Doris and other NLG lawyers led to Yates v. United
States, in which the Supreme Court overturned the convictions of Smith Act
defendants in 1957. After Yates, the government never filed another
prosecution under the Smith Act.
During the McCarthy era, Doris was called to testify before the House
Un-American Activities Committee and she also represented several HUAC
witnesses. From 1956 to 1961, Doris successfully defended William and Sylvia
Powell, who faced the death penalty, against Korean War sedition charges.
The US government charged that articles Powell had written reporting and
criticizing US biological weapons use in Korea were false and written with
intent to hinder the war effort. When a mistrial ended the sedition case,
the government charged the Powells with treason. Attorney General Robert
Kennedy dismissed the case in 1961.
A partner with the NLG firm of Treuhaft & Walker in Oakland, California from
1961 to 1977, Doris' practice focused on civil rights, free speech and draft
cases during the Vietnam War. She also defended death penalty cases. Perhaps
best known for her defense of Angela Davis, Doris was part of a legal team
that secured Angela's acquittal on charges of murder, kidnapping and
conspiracy. In that case, which Harvard Professor Charles Ogletree in 2005
called "clearly the trial of the 20th century, and one that exemplified the
vast and diverse talents of the true Dream Team of the legal profession,"
the defense pioneered the use of jury consultants.
Doris was elected president of the NLG in 1970 after a bruising battle
during which one opponent labeled her "a man in a woman's skirt." She paved
the way for the election of five women NLG presidents in the ensuing years.
Serving as Vice President of the International Association of Democratic
Lawyers from 1970 to 1978, Doris supported the struggles of victims of U.S.
imperialism throughout the world and was instrumental in the development of
international human rights law. In 1996, Doris served as one of eight
international observers at the South African Truth and Reconciliation
Commission hearings led by Desmond Tutu.
In 2004, Doris submitted a resolution on behalf of the NLG Bay Area Chapter
to the Conference of Delegates of the California Bar Association asking for
an investigation of representations the Bush administration used to justify
the war in Iraq, for possible impeachment.
Noted writer Jessica Mitford and Doris were close friends for years; Jessica
was married to Robert Truehaft, Doris' law partner. When Doris invited
Jessica to join the Communist Party, the latter replied, "We thought you'd
never ask!" There is speculation that author J.K. Rowling, who cited Jessica
as her main literary influence, named her Harry Potter house elf "Dobby"
after seeing Dobby Walker's name in Jessica's books. On a recent visit to
her home, Doris showed me the Dobby references in works by Jessica on her
bookshelf.
Doris frequently called me with her concerns and opinions about the issues
of the day and in the NLG. She remained intensely engaged in politics until
the day she died.
Doris "Dobby" Walker inspired generations of progressive lawyers, law
students and legal workers to struggle unrelentingly for justice and
equality. She was a friend, comrade and role model to scores of people in
and out of the NLG. We will never see the likes of her again.
Marjorie Cohn is president of the National Lawyers Guild and a professor at
Thomas Jefferson School of Law. She is the author of Cowboy Republic: Six
Ways the Bush Gang Has Deifed the Law and co-author of Rules of
Disengagement: The Politics and Honor of Military Dissent. Her anthology,
The United States of Torture: America's Past and Present Policy of
Interrogation and Abuse, will be published next year by NYU Press. See
www.marjoriecohn.com.
From: Z Net - The Spirit Of Resistance Lives
http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/commentaries/3954
Commentaries: http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/commentaries/
Comment: http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/commentaries/3954#AddComment
No comments:
Post a Comment