I was a member of the Lawyer's Constitutional Defense Committee, organized by Henry Schwarzschild. My first assignment in the summer of 1965 was with the law firm of Collins, Douglas & Elie. My principal work was drafting the federal complaint against the City of Bogalusa, working with Donald Jelinek, Hicks et al v. Claxton Knight et al, Civil Action No. 15727 (Christenberry, J.) We moved for a preliminary injunction, and after a week-long evidentiary hearing before Judge Christenberry, including the testimony of persons who had been attacked and injured by police dogs, Judge Christenberry issued a preliminary injunction on July 10, 1965, against the defendants.
I also worked with Robert Collins, Esq. in representing Reverend Cox after the United States Supreme Court reversed his conviction in Cox v. Louisiana, 379 U.S. 536 (1965). In my second summer, 1966, I was assigned to Selma, Alabama, and worked on a number of cases, including Reynolds v. State of Alabama, 277 F.Supp. 220 (S.D. Alabama 1967), and Demopolis v. Dick Reavis on charges of vagrancy, i.e. Reavis was a civil rights worker for SCOPE, and as such, he was convicted for leading a "profligate life."
My experiences in the civil rights movement inspired me to continue civil rights work in the North, including representing (with Alex Menza) defendants in City of Newark v. Castle et al, Criminal Action 336-65 (D. New Jersey), chairmanship of the Westchester Civil Liberties Union (1969-1971). Those experiences also led me and my wife, who was also active in civil rights, to adopt an inter-racial baby (who is now practicing law in Florida).
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