Leonard Irving Weinglass (August 27, 1933 – March 23, 2011) was a U.S. criminal defense lawyer and constitutional law advocate, best known for his defense of participants in the 1960s counterculture. He was admitted to the bar 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 ...

, New York,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

and

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. He taught criminal trial advocacy at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

Law School from 1974 to 1976, and at the Peoples College of Law, in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

from 1974 to 1975.

Early life

Leonard Weinglass was born on August 27, 1933, to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in

Belleville, New Jersey Belleville (French: "Belle ville" meaning "Beautiful city / town") is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States Census, the township's population wa ...

. 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 & Worl ...

in 1958, then served as a captain judge advocate in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

from 1959 to 1961.

Career

Weinglass championed a number of liberal and radical causes during the counterculture era. An expert in constitutional law, he served as co-chairman of the international committee 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 ...

. Along with attorney

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 ...

, Weinglass represented the Chicago 7 in their 1969 trial. He also participated in the defense of Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo, who were charged with leaking the ''

Pentagon Papers The ''Pentagon Papers'', officially titled ''Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force'', is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States' political and military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 ...

'' and whose trial ended in a dismissal of all charges. In 1970, he represented and won the acquittal of

Angela Davis Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an American political activist, philosopher, academic, scholar, and author. She is a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A feminist and a Marxist, Davis was a longtime member of ...

who was charged with participation in the abduction and murder of a California judge. Other prominent clients included Kathy Boudin, a member of the Weather Underground charged with felony murder for her participation in an armed robbery; anti-war activist Ron Kaufman;

Bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

and

Emily Harris Emily Harris (born February 11, 1947 as Emily Montague Schwartz) was, along with her husband William Harris (1945–), a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), an American left-wing terrorist group involved in murder, kidnapping, and ...

(of the SLA), wrongfully convicted Korean-American

Chol Soo Lee Chol Soo Lee (August 15, 1952 - December 2, 2014) was a Korean American immigrant who was wrongfully convicted for the 1973 murder of Yip Yee Tak, a San Francisco Chinatown gang leader, and sentenced to life in prison. While in prison, he was sen ...

, and Jimi Simmons, among others. He was the lead defense attorney for

Mumia Abu-Jamal Mumia Abu-Jamal (born Wesley Cook; April 24, 1954) is an American political activist and journalist who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1982 for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. While on death ...

for several years. In 1995, he authored a book about Abu-Jamal's case entitled ''Race for Justice: Mumia Abu Jamal's Fight Against the Death Penalty''. In 1972, Weinglass took on the defense of John Sinclair, Chairman of the

White Panther Party The White Panthers were an anti-racist political collective founded in November 1968 by Pun Plamondon, Leni Sinclair, and John Sinclair. It was started in response to an interview where Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, w ...

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

. The case became '' United States v. U.S. District Court'', 407 U.S. 297 (1972) on appeal to 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 ...

, a landmark decision prohibiting the government's use of electronic surveillance without a warrant. Weinglass defended Kathy Boudin in the 1981 Brink's robbery. In 1985, Weinglass successfully defended Stephen Bingham, an attorney accused of smuggling a handgun to George Jackson in

San Quentin Prison San Quentin State Prison (SQ) is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County. Opened in July 1852, San Quentin is the ...

setting off an escape attempt that resulted in the death of Jackson, two other inmates, and three prison guards. Weinglass was the lead appellate attorney for the

Cuban Five The Cuban Five, also known as the Miami Five, are five Cuban intelligence officers (Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, and René González) who were arrested in September 1998 and later convicted in Miam ...

from 2002 until his death in 2011.Interview with Duncan Campbell, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 2007-01-09, G2 Section pp 10-13 (available onlin
here
, entitled "Society has become more punitive", Weinglass reviewed four decades as a defense lawyer.

Last years

Up until the last year of his life, Weinglass continued to take on cases. He saw no reason to stop: ''"the typical call I get is the one that starts by saying 'You are the fifth attorney we've called'. Then I get interested."''

Death

Leonard Weinglass died on March 23, 2011, aged 77, from pancreatic cancer, in New York City.

Popular culture

* Elliott Gould played Weinglass in the 1987 film '' Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8''. * Weinglass voiced himself in the 2007 animated documentary '' Chicago 10''. *Weinglass was portrayed by

Ben Shenkman Benjamin Shenkman (born September 26, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the comedy-drama series '' Royal Pains'' and the acclaimed HBO miniseries ''Angels in America'', which earned him both Primetime Emmy Award and Golden ...

in the 2020 drama film ''

The Trial of the Chicago 7 ''The Trial of the Chicago 7'' is a 2020 American historical legal drama film written and directed by Aaron Sorkin. The film follows the Chicago Seven, a group of anti–Vietnam War protesters charged with conspiracy and crossing state lines ...

Awards

* 1974: First recipient of the

Clarence Darrow Clarence Seward Darrow (; April 18, 1857 – March 13, 1938) was an American lawyer who became famous in the early 20th century for his involvement in the Leopold and Loeb murder trial and the Scopes "Monkey" Trial. He was a leading member of t ...

Award. * 1980: Humanitarian Award for 1980 of the

First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles is an independent congregation affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, which is considered a Protestant denomination. Since its founding in 1877 the church has been a leader i ...

* 1994: Outstanding Achievement Award (California Attorneys for Criminal Justice)

References

External links

My friend Len Weinglass (1933–2011), by Michael Steven Smith

Memorial Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weinglass, Leonard 1933 births 2011 deaths People from Belleville, New Jersey Military personnel from New Jersey American human rights activists American civil rights lawyers Jewish American attorneys Mumia Abu-Jamal Yale Law School alumni United States Air Force officers Deaths from pancreatic cancer Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Chicago Seven