Arthur Kinoy (September 20, 1920 – September 19, 2003), was an American attorney and progressive

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life ...

leader who helped defend Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. He served as a professor of law at the Rutgers School of Law–Newark from 1964 to 1999. He was one of the founders in 1966 of the

Center for Constitutional Rights The Center for Constitutional RightsThe Center for Constitutional Rights
(CCR) is a

in New York City, and successfully argued a number of cases before the

Supreme Court of the United States 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 tribunals in the United States, federal court cases, and over Stat ...

. He also founded the Public Interest Law Center of New Jersey.

Education

Kinoy was born on September 20, 1920, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He attended public schools and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

(A.B., 1941), where he graduated ''magna cum laude.'' As a student at Harvard, Kinoy was a member of the national executive committee of the

American Student Union The American Student Union (ASU) was a national left-wing organization of college students of the 1930s, best remembered for its protest activities against militarism. Founded by a 1935 merger of Communist and Socialist student organizations, the ...

. He earned his law degree at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

(LL.B., 1947), where he was executive editor of the law review.

Career as attorney

Kinoy was attorney for the

United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), is an independent democratic rank-and-file labor union representing workers in both the private and public sectors across the United States. UE was one of the first unions to be c ...

(UE), classified in the 1950s as a Communist-controlled union by the

Senate Internal Security Subcommittee The United States Senate's Special Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, 1951–77, known more commonly as the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS) and sometimes the M ...

(SISS), headed by conservative Democratic Sen.

James O. Eastland James Oliver Eastland (November 28, 1904 February 19, 1986) was an American attorney, plantation owner, and politician from Mississippi. A Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, he served in the United States Senate in 1941 and again from 1 ...

from Mississippi. Kinoy took an active part in the defense of

Ethel and 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 ...

from 1951. They were convicted of

atomic espionage Atomic spies or atom spies were people in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada who are known to have illicitly given information about nuclear weapons production or design to the Soviet Union during World War II and the early Cold ...

and executed on June 19, 1953. Kinoy made the last appeal to try to save the Rosenbergs from execution. In the 1950s, Kinoy was a partner in the law firm of Donner, Kinoy & Perlin. Among their clients were left-wing groups such as the Committee for Justice for

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 ...

and

Labor Youth League The Young Communist League USA (YCLUSA) is a communist youth organization in the United States. The stated aim of the League is the development of its members into Communists, through studying Marxism–Leninism and through active participation ...

. Kinoy 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 ...

, serving as national vice president in 1954. In 1964, at the height of the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

activities in the South to end

disenfranchisement Disfranchisement, also called disenfranchisement, or voter disqualification is the restriction of suffrage (the right to vote) of a person or group of people, or a practice that has the effect of preventing a person exercising the right to vote. D ...

and segregation, he participated in a conference sponsored by the

's Committee for Legal Assistance in the South. It briefed attorneys on legal problems confronting civil rights demonstrators in

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, where state and local governments resisted change. He and his partner,

William Kunstler William Moses Kunstler (July 7, 1919 – September 4, 1995) was an American lawyer and civil rights activist, known for defending the Chicago Seven. Kunstler was an active member of the National Lawyers Guild, a board member of the American Civil ...

, were two of the most prominent attorneys during the 1960s to handle civil rights cases in the South. In 1964, Kinoy became a professor of law at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

, deciding to enlarge his practice that way. He taught until being forced to retire at the age of 70 in 1991. Following his retirement from Rutgers, Kinoy taught constitutional law at Temple University Law School in Philadelphia from 1994 to 1995 and was a key faculty advisor for the Temple Political & Civil Rights Law Review. From 1964 to 1967 he was also a partner in the law firm of Kunstler, Kunstler & Kinoy of New York City. He was counsel for the

Students for a Democratic Society Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a national student activist organization in the United States during the 1960s, and was one of the principal representations of the New Left. Disdaining permanent leaders, hierarchical relationships ...

(SDS) and the Southern Conference Educational Fund. Kinoy was also affiliated with 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 ...

, which in 1966 became part of the newly established

Center for Constitutional Rights The Center for Constitutional RightsThe Center for Constitutional Rights
(CCR) is a

in New York City, of which he was a founding member. Together with

and others, Kinoy determined the need for a non-profit legal defense organization to raise awareness of issues in civil rights and work to overturn unconstitutional practices. In 1966, Kinoy was a speaker at the annual dinner of the ''

National Guardian ''The National Guardian'', later known as ''The Guardian'', was a left-wing independent weekly newspaper established in 1948 in New York City. The paper was founded by James Aronson, Cedric Belfrage and John T. McManus in connection with the 194 ...

'' newspaper. He also did legal work for 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 ...

, which worked to establish precedent in civil and constitutional rights cases. During the 1950s and 1960s, Kinoy represented persons called to hearings of the

House Committee on Un-American Activities 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 ...

; in 1966 he was officially removed from a hearing by Senator Eastland, its chair, and subsequently convicted of disorderly conduct. In 1968, the

U.S. Court of Appeals The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal judiciary. The courts of appeals are divided into 11 numbered circuits that cover geographic areas of the United States and hear appeals fr ...

overturned the conviction. As ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' stated in its obituary:

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 A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
, which empowered federal district court 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 The United States Senate's Special Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, 1951–77, known more commonly as the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS) and sometimes the M ...
was not immune from suits for violations of citizens’ civil rights. In 1972, the
Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
upheld his contention that
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Richard M. Nixon had no ‘inherent power’ to wiretap domestic political organizations."Arthur Kinoy Is Dead at 82; Lawyer for Chicago Seven"
''New York Times,'' 20 September 2003, Retrieved 26 March 2009.

In his autobiography ''Rights On Trial: The Odyssey Of A People's Lawyer,'' Kinoy claimed that the break-in at Watergate by Republican Party operatives in 1972 was an attempt to remove, not place, wiretaps in the Democratic Party headquarters. He suggests that it was ordered because the

Nixon administration Richard Nixon's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 37th president of the United States began with First inauguration of Richard Nixon, his first inauguration on January 20, 1969, and ended when he resigned on August 9, 1974 ...

knew of the impending decision in ''United States v. United States District Court,'' likely, by a tip from SCOTUS Justice

William Rehnquist William Hubbs Rehnquist ( ; October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American attorney and jurist who served on the U.S. Supreme Court for 33 years, first as an associate justice from 1972 to 1986 and then as the 16th chief justice from ...

, who had served as Nixon's Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Legal Counsel prior to joining the Supreme Court. Kinoy was one of the founders of the ''

Women's Rights Law Reporter The ''Women's Rights Law Reporter'' is a journal of legal scholarship published by an independent student group at Rutgers School of Law—Newark. The journal was founded in 1970 by Rutgers law students working with Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Profess ...

,'' the first

legal periodical A legal periodical is a periodical about law. Legal periodicals include legal newspapers, law review A law review or law journal is a scholarly journal or publication that focuses on legal issues. A law review is a type of legal periodical. L ...

to focus exclusively on

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

. Kinoy also was the key founder of the Mass Party Organizing Committee, a coalition-based, electorally friendly attempt to create a socialist third party in the United States in the 1970s.

Personal life

Kinoy was married to Barbara S. Webster at his death. He had previously married and was divorced from Susan Knopf. Arthur Kinoy died age 82 on September 19, 2003, at his home in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. He was survived by two children from his first marriage, as well as by his younger brother

Ernest Kinoy Ernest Kinoy (April 1, 1925 – November 10, 2014) was an American writer, screenwriter and playwright. Early life Kinoy was born in New York City on April 1, 1925; his parents, Albert and Sarah Kinoy (formerly Forstadt), were both high-school ...

, a noted television and film screenwriter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinoy, Arthur Rutgers School of Law–Newark faculty American civil rights lawyers Harvard University alumni Columbia Law School alumni 1920 births 2003 deaths Southern Conference Educational Fund

Education

Career as attorney

Personal life

See also

References