Harry Weinberger, Major Civil Liberties Lawyer in WW I, Dies
Harry Weinberger was a New York City lawyer who handled a number of important civil liberties cases during World War I. He handled the case of Abrams v. United States, decided by the Supreme Court on November 10, 1919.
Abrams prompted an extremely important and influential dissent by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, with Justice Louis Brandeis concurring, that influenced the development of free speech law. See Brandeis’ famous and influential opinion in the 1927 decision Whitney v. California.
Despite his important role in the World War I years, Weinberger is largely forgotten today, and there is little written about him.
Read about the Abrams case: Richard Polenberg, Fighting Faiths: The Abrams Case, The Supreme Court, and Free Speech (1987)
Read about the full history of freedom of speech in wartime: Geoffrey Stone, Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism (2004)
Read about Weinberger’s role in the important Abrams case at Rights Matter.