David Rein

David Rein (1914–1979) was a 20th-Century American attorney who, with partner Joseph Forer, supported Progressive causes including the legal defense of African-Americans and accused Communists. Rein and Foyer were members of the National Lawyers Guild and its D.C. chapter. Rein represented "more than 100 people", alleged to have been Communists, before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and the subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Administration (chaired by U.S. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy).

Background

David Rein was born on April 12, 1914, in New York City. He attended public elementary and high schools there. He studied at Columbia College and Columbia Law School. He had two siblings.

As historian Joan Quigley describes: In the late 1940s, while Congress and the executive branch trawled for evidence of disloyalty and subversion, Rein and Forer immersed themselves in difficult and disfavored causes: opposing the Mundt-Nixon Bill; defending labor unions and alleged Communists; upholding the Bill of Rights. Rein ... represented Gerhard Eisler ... As progressives and New Deal veterans, Forer and Rein also nurtured ties to the National Lawyers Guild, which HUAC had branded a Communist front in 1944. Attorney Victor Rabinowitz recalled in his memoir that Rein's circle of communist-supportive lawyers stretched to New York City (headquarters of the National Lawyers Guild). They included Harry Sacher, Abe Unger, David Freeman, Forer, and Rabinowitz himself, "all lawyers active in the representation of witnesses before congressional committees." He explained: Unger and Freeman were attorneys for the (Communist) Party; Sacher had been lead defense in the prosecution of Communist party leaders under the Smith Act; I was a member of the Party and the others were close to it if not members. We certainly weren't making Party policy, but our views would have some influence on the Party and its members.

Lost Laws and DC v. John R. Thompson Co.

Mary Church Terrell

In May 1949, Dr. Mary Church Terrell decided to take on the issue of desegregation head-on. She consulted Forer. Forer led the National Lawyers Guild's DC chapter in submitting an opinion in their favor. With such advice, Dr. Terrell and colleagues Clark F. King, Essie Thompson, and Arthur F. Elmer entered the segregated Thompson's Restaurant, next door to the offices of Forer and Rein's office at 711 14th Street NW, in Washington, D.C., between H and G Streets cut by New York Avenue and across the street from the Trans-Lux Theatre. When refused service, Terrell & Co. sued.

Attorney Ringgold Hart, representing Thompson, argued on April 1, 1950, that District laws were unconstitutional. Regardless, Forer's research found that the U.S. Congress had jurisdiction over DC and so could overrule segregation; Charles H. Houston, dean of Howard University Law School concurred.

District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson Co.

The case District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson Co. reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Forer and Rein argued the case. On June 8, 1953, the court ruled that segregated eating places in Washington, D.C., were unconstitutional.

Retirement

When Forer retired from practice with Rein in July 1978, Rein reformed the practice as Rein, Garfinkel & Dranitske.

Personal and death

Rein was married to Selma Rein; they had one child.

Forer, Rein, and many friends and associates lived at Trenton Terrace, 950 Mississippi Avenue SE, Washington DC 20032.

As a child, Carl Bernstein knew Joseph Forer and David Rein.

Rein died age 65 on August 15, 1979, while playing tennis near his home in Washington, DC.