David Carliner
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David Carliner ( – ) was an immigration, civil liberties, and civil rights lawyer in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
Among the earliest practitioners of American immigration and naturalization law, he was an early combatant of anti-miscegenation laws, challenged the segregation of public accommodations, and fought for the rights of sexual minorities to enter the country and have full employment rights in the federal government. Carliner was chair of the District of Columbia Home Rule Committee and was responsible for the first modern home rule reforms in 1967. He served as the general counsel of 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 ...
(1976–79); helped to found the ACLU's National Capital Area chapter and
Global Rights Global Rights is an international human rights capacity-building non-governmental organization (NGO). Founded in Washington, D.C., in 1978 with the name International Human Rights Law Group, the organization changed its name to Global Rights: P ...
(then called the International Human Rights Law Group); and served on the boards of the ACLU (1965–83), the
American Jewish Committee The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the dean of American Jewish org ...
(1969–71), and a variety of other organizations. He was the author of the ACLU's 1977 handbook on immigrants' rights and a coauthor of its 1990 revision.


Childhood, early career, and family

Carliner was the youngest of four children of Leon Carliner, a Jewish immigrant grocer from what is now
Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...
, and the former Cassie Brooks, who had immigrated from
Kremenchuk Kremenchuk (; uk, Кременчу́к, Kremenchuk ) is an industrial city in central Ukraine which stands on the banks of the Dnipro River. The city serves as the administrative center of the Kremenchuk Raion (district) in Poltava Oblast (pr ...
(present-day
Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
). He attended McKinley High School in Washington and was active in leftist politics while still in high school. He planned to go to
George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...
until his high school principal wrote a letter in retaliation for Carliner leading a protest over a canceled football game and the university rescinded his admission. Instead, Carliner went first to
American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...
and then to the
University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
, where he transferred to the
law school A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...
before obtaining his bachelor's degree. While in college and law school, he continued to be active in left-wing politics against white supremacy and militarism, including organizing students for a statewide Virginia Youth Conference in Charlottesville. This activity earned him the enmity of the university's dean, Ivey Lewis, and in 1940 he was expelled from the university after he was arrested for passing handbills in "the colored section of town," as the police report had it. Lewis and the university claimed that Carliner had not been expelled—that he had been denied readmission after the summer for using another student's library card—but Carliner briefly became a cause célèbre. He eventually received his LL.B. in 1941 from
National University School of Law National University School of Law was an American law school founded in Washington, D.C. in 1869. Originally intended as part of a larger design for a national university in the United States, the school was the principal component of National Unive ...
which, ironically, later merged with the
George Washington University Law School The George Washington University Law School (GW Law) is the law school of George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. Established in 1865, GW Law is the oldest top law school in the national capital. GW Law offers the largest range of cou ...
. After his expulsion from university, Carliner was drafted into the Army in 1941, where he was prevented from entering
Officer Candidate School An officer candidate school (OCS) is a military school which trains civilians and Enlisted rank, enlisted personnel in order for them to gain a Commission (document), commission as Commissioned officer, officers in the armed forces of a country. ...
because of his left-wing politics; he was discharged in 1945 and spent about a year as an assistant JAG. After his time with the Army, Carliner spent a couple of years with the New Council of American Business, a pro-
New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
organization with close links to Henry Wallace. In 1944, he married Miriam Kalter, a refugee from
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
; she worked for the federal government in various programs on poverty and sex discrimination. They had two children, Geoffrey, an economist, and Deborah, an attorney. Carliner died of a heart attack in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
on Sept. 19, 2007.


Legal career

Throughout his career, Carliner used immigration law to pursue his goals of civil rights. Carliner's first major case was ''
Naim v. Naim ''Naim v. Naim'', 197 Va. 80; 87 S.E.2d 749 (1955), is a case regarding interracial marriage. The case was decided by the Supreme Court of Virginia on June 13, 1955. The Court held the marriage between the appellant (Han Say Naim) and the appellee ...
''. A Chinese sailor named Hay Say Naim had married a white Virginian woman, Ruby Naim, and sought to obtain permanent residency through his marriage. When Ruby sought to annul the marriage on the grounds that Virginia law forbade the interracial marriage to begin with, Carliner tried to take the case all the way to 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 court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
. His goal was to extend the recent
Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...
, but in fact ''Browns proximity worked against him. The US Supreme Court eventually refused to rule, because, as Justice
Tom C. Clark Thomas Campbell Clark (September 23, 1899June 13, 1977) was an American lawyer who served as the 59th United States Attorney General from 1945 to 1949 and as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1949 to 1967. Clark ...
said, "one bombshell at a time is enough." As a result, the
Virginia Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Virginia is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It primarily hears direct appeals in civil cases from the trial-level city and county circuit courts, as well as the criminal law, family law and administrative ...
's decision that the state had the right "to regulate the marriage relation so that it shall not have a mongrel breed of citizens" would stand until ''
Loving v. Virginia ''Loving v. Virginia'', 388 U.S. 1 (1967), was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark civil rights decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that Anti-miscegenation laws in the United States, laws ban ...
'' in 1967. In the late 1950s, he brought lawsuits contesting Virginia'
Public Assemblages Act
requiring segregation at public meetings. Through his association with 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 ...
, Carliner was also involved in two major
gay rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 3 ...
cases and was an early legal activist for gay rights. He was a leading advocate within the ACLU to treat gay rights as a civil liberties issue. Working with Frank Kameny, he developed a legal strategy that challenged directly the constitutionality of anti-gay discrimination. In ''Scott v. Macy'', Carliner tested this strategy by representing Bruce Scott, who had been fired from a federal government job on the grounds of his having been previously arrested for unspecified "homosexual conduct". Chief Judge David L. Bazelon of the
D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. federal appellate cou ...
ruled that Scott's "homosexual conduct" was, without further specification, insufficient proof of "immoral conduct". The case did not create a legal right for gay federal workers not to be fired from their jobs, but, wrote ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', "no federal court has gone so far as this opinion in strongly suggesting that homosexual conduct may not be an absolute disqualification for Government jobs." Later, Carliner worked with
Burt Neuborne Burt Neuborne (born January 1, 1941) is the Norman Dorsen Professor of Civil Liberties at New York University School of Law and the founding legal director of the Brennan Center for Justice.amicus brief An ''amicus curiae'' (; ) is an individual or organization who is not a party to a legal case, but who is permitted to assist a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case. The decision on ...
in ''
Boutilier v. INS ''Boutilier v. Immigration and Naturalization Service'', 387 U.S. 118 (1967), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court upheld Clive Michael Boutilier's deportation from the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act ...
'', a case in which the Supreme Court permitted the government to exclude sexual minorities from the United States. In addition to these cases Carliner represented "World Citizen"
Garry Davis Sol Gareth "Garry" Davis (27 July 1921 – 24 July 2013) was an international peace activist best known for renouncing his American citizenship and interrupting the United Nations in 1948 to advocate for world government as a way to end nation ...
; leftist professor Staughton Lynd; Romanian engineer and dissident
Nicolae Malaxa Nicolae Malaxa ( – 1965) was a Romanian engineer and industrialist. Biography Born in a family of Greek origin in Huşi, Malaxa studied engineering in Iaşi (at the University of Iaşi) and Karlsruhe (at the Polytechnic University). Lat ...
; New Orleans mobster
Carlos Marcello Carlos Joseph Marcello (; born Calogero Minacore ; February 6, 1910 – March 3, 1993) was an Italian-American crime boss of the New Orleans crime family from 1947 until the late 1980s. Aside from his role in the American Mafia, he is also n ...
; a vending machine company against
Bobby Baker Robert Gene Baker (November 12, 1928 – November 12, 2017) was an American political adviser to Lyndon B. Johnson, and an organizer for the Democratic Party. He became the Senate's Secretary to the Majority Leader. In 1963, he resigned during a ...
, a close friend and aide to
Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
; and the
Unification Church The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or "Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name Holy Spi ...
. Over a 50-year career, he also represented hundreds of ordinary immigrants in immigration proceedings. He spent his career in Washington D.C. working in a small firm with a maximum of one or two other partners, including Jack Wasserman (1950–67), Charles Gordon (1974-84), and Carliner's son-in-law, Robert A. Remes (1984-2003).


Political activity

Although Carliner was primarily an attorney, he sought social and political change in a variety of other ways, including through writing newspaper articles and testifying before congress. Most importantly, he was the chair of the
District of Columbia Home Rule District of Columbia home rule is Washington, D.C. residents' ability to govern their local affairs. As the federal capital, the Constitution grants the United States Congress exclusive jurisdiction over the District in "all cases whatsoever" ...
Committee from 1966 to 1970. He designed and spearheaded Lyndon Johnson's 1967 Reorganization Plan—called the Carliner Plan at the time—which replaced the three commissioners with an appointed mayor and city council. "Washingtonians owe warm thanks to the long, patient efforts of the Home Rule Committee and its chairman, David Carliner," wrote ''The Washington Post'' editorial board.


Legacy

The
American Constitution Society The American Constitution Society (ACS) is a progressive legal organization. ACS was created as a counterweight to, and is modeled after, the Federalist Society, and is often described as its progressive counterpart. Founded in 2001 following t ...
honors Carliner's legacy with the annua
David Carliner Public Interest Award
for young public interest lawyers working in civil rights, civil liberties, immigrant rights, or international human rights. His law firm, Carliner and Remes, P.C., continues to bear his name. The Carliner Family Papers, comprising the personal and political papers of David and Miriam Carliner, are held by the
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library (MLKML) is the central facility of the District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL). Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed the 400,000 square foot (37,000 m2) steel, brick, and glass structure, and it is a ra ...
. The Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit holds a
oral history
with Carliner. During his lifetime, Carliner won the Oliver Wendell Holmes Award (in 1966) from the ACLU and the Immigration Law Lifetime Achievement Award (in 1994) from the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law. He was a member of the
Cosmos Club The Cosmos Club is a 501(c)(7) private social club in Washington, D.C. that was founded by John Wesley Powell in 1878 as a gentlemen's club for those interested in science. Among its stated goals is, "The advancement of its members in science, ...
.


See also

* F. Palmer Weber, a fellow student activist at the University of Virginia


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carliner, David American people of Russian-Jewish descent University of Virginia School of Law alumni People from Washington, D.C. American civil rights lawyers Immigration lawyers Lawyers from Washington, D.C. National University School of Law alumni