Obit: Friend & historic lawyer, Arthur Kinoy

Subject: Obit: Friend & historic lawyer, Arthur Kinoy
From: InOBU
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 05:41 PM

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of sitting on a couch and singing song after song of mine, to Arthur. I am striken to pass this along to you. He was the last living lawyer to have defended the Rosenburgs, a dear fellow who once said to me, "the civil rights movement died in AMerica the day we stopped singing." He will be dearly missed.
Larry

Arthur Kinoy, 82, Lawyer for Chicago Seven, Dies
>
> September 20, 2003
> By PAUL LEWIS
>
>
> Arthur Kinoy, one of the lawyers for the Chicago Seven and
> a founder of the Center for Constitutional Rights, long a
> force in the civil rights movement, died on Sept. 19 at his
> home in Montclair, N.J. He was 82.
>
> In 1969, Mr. Kinoy joined William M. Kunstler and Leonard
> I. Weinglass in defending eight prominent antiwar activists
> on charges that they had conspired to incite riots at the
> 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The seven,
> including Abbie Hoffman, Rennie Davis, Jerry Rubin, David
> Dellinger and Tom Hayden, were all found guilty, but the
> verdicts were overturned on appeal.
>
> He was involved with many other controversial cases and
> clients, including Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, for whom he
> filed the last appeal of their death sentence, and Adam
> Clayton Powell Jr., the Harlem congressman, in his fight
> against expulsion from Congress.
>
> Mr. Kinoy, who retired in 1991 from Rutgers University, was
> very active in the civil rights movement in the 1950's and
> 60's and in representing witnesses called before the House
> Un-American Activities Committee.
>
> In 1966, when he was representing student antiwar leaders
> before the committee, the acting chairman ordered him
> arrested for trying to argue a point of law with its
> members, and had him forcibly removed from the hearing room
> by three marshals. But his subsequent conviction on a
> charge of disorderly conduct was overturned on appeal.
>
> Mr. Kinoy was involved in a number of landmark legal
> verdicts. In 1965 he successfully argued the case of
> Dombrowski v. Pfister before the Supreme Court, which
> empowered federal district judges to stop enforcement of
> laws that had "a chilling effect" on free speech.
>
> In a subsequent case, Dombrowski v. Senator Eastland, he
> established that the Counsel of the Senate Internal
> Security Committee was not immune from suits for violations
> of citizens' civil rights.
>
> In 1969 Mr. Kinoy persuaded the Supreme Court that the
> expulsion of Mr. Powell from the House of Representatives
> on charges of misuse of public funds was unconstitutional.
> The congressman was eventually allowed to keep his seat,
> though he was stripped of his seniority.
>
> In 1972 the Supreme Court upheld his contention that
> President Richard M. Nixon had no "inherent power" to
> wiretap domestic political organizations.
>
> Mr. Kinoy was one of the lawyers defending Julius and Ethel
> Rosenberg at their trial on atomic espionage charges in
> 1951. Two years later he made a last attempt before a
> Federal appeals court to prevent their execution.
>
> Mr. Kinoy's' first wife, the former Susan Knopf, died in
> 1999. He is survived by his second wife, Barbara Webster,
> and the children of his first marriage, Joanne, of Oak
> Park, Ill., and Peter, of Brooklyn.
>
> Arthur Kinoy was born in New York on Sept. 29, 1920, and
> graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 1941. In World
> War II he served with the Army in North Africa and Italy.
> He then entered Columbia Law School, where he was executive
> editor of The Law Review and graduated in 1947.
>
> In 1966 he helped found the Center for Constitutional
> Rights with a group of lawyers whose civil rights work in
> Mississippi had convinced them of the need for a new legal
> center dedicated to using the law to advance human rights
> and fight oppression in many areas.
>
> The center, in Manhattan, is still active. This month, a
> settlement between the New York Police Department and a
> group accusing it of racial profiling required the
> department to report every instance of stopping and
> searching to the center and to other lawyers for the
> plaintiffs.
>
> After first combining a general legal practice in New York
> with his civil rights work, Mr. Kinoy decided in 1964 to
> move into teaching, joining the Rutgers University Law
> School as a professor. He retired in 1991 as a professor
> emeritus.
>
> In 1983, Harvard University Press published his book
> "Rights on Trial: The Odyssey of a People's Lawyer."
>
> In a widely publicized battle, Mr. Kinoy fought forced
> retirement from Rutgers at 70 with wide support from
> students and faculty members, seeking an exemption from the
> federal law that allows colleges to set a retirement age.
>
> Eventually, the Rutgers administration agreed to a plan
> that would let him stay in his post if outside funds could
> be found to pay him. The funds were not forthcoming from
> the Legislature, however, and he stepped down.
>
> At the time, Henry Furst, a Newark lawyer and one of Mr.
> Kinoy's former students, said of his forced retirement:
>
> "Over his 26 years he is the reason many students came to
> Rutgers - to study with him. It's like killing Socrates."
>

Subject: RE: Obit: Friend & historic lawyer, Arthur Kinoy
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 08:21 PM

What an incredible person he must've been, Larry. A loss to all of us. Thanks for marking his passing with us and please accept my condolences.

kat

Subject: RE: Obit: Friend & historic lawyer, Arthur Kinoy
From: SINSULL
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 08:30 PM

Larry,
When will you begin writing a book? Your life has been filled with interesting, heroic, and wonderful people.
M.

Subject: RE: Obit: Friend & historic lawyer, Arthur Kinoy
From: Bill Hahn//\\
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 08:32 PM

Sad news and my sympathies for an idealist.

With regard to the mention of W. Kunstler.   I will be talking with the author of Why America Slept--Gerald Posner on my non-folk program--Tabletalk. The subject of Mr. Kunstler will surely come up since in his book he speaks of how Mr. Kunstler's defense of the assasin of Rabbi Kahane was financed by the Bin Ladn group. By that I mean Osama and not the family---but who knows. Interestingly the defense was excellent and Nosair (the asassin)was able to fight on another day for his cause---whatever that may be. He was only convicted on minor gun charges---it is an intriguing story.

Stay tuned.


Bill Hahn

Subject: RE: Obit: Friend & historic lawyer, Arthur Kinoy
From: InOBU
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 09:04 PM

Hi Bill:
Bill Kunstler was a dear old friend of mine as well. A question I would pose to Posner, in the spirit of Bill and Arthur, is... on the question of preparedness ass a defence... Hasn't Isreal been well prepaired for years and do we want to be as safe as folks in Isreal? Or.. isnt the best defense a foriegn policy based on respect and not taking 70% 0of the world's resourses????
Cheers
Larry

Subject: RE: Obit: Friend & historic lawyer, Arthur Kinoy
From: jbailes
Date: 22 Sep 03 - 04:17 PM

thank you for the news about arthur kinoy. i was so glad he stood up for civil liberties the way that he did. it is sad that you have lost such a friend.