Thomas I. Emerson

Thomas Irwin Emerson (1907–1991) was an American attorney and legal scholar. He is known as a "major architect of civil liberties law," "arguably the foremost First Amendment scholar of his generation," and "pillar of the Bill of Rights."

Early life and education

Thomas Irwin Emerson was born in 1907 in Passaic, New Jersey. In 1928, he graduated from Yale University. In 1931, he graduated from Yale Law School, where future Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas was one of his professors.

Career

Private practice In 1931, Emerson joined Engelhard, Pollak, Pitcher & Stern (earlier Simpson, Warren & Cardozo and later Engelhard, Pollak, Pitcher, Stern & Clarke). Emerson worked primarily for Carl Stern and Walter Pollak.

Politics

In 1948, Emerson ran for governor of Connecticut on the ticket of the 1948 Progressive Party, whose US presidential candidate was former US Vice President Henry A. Wallace. He was also Connecticut state chairman of the Progressive Party. In 1950, UN Ambassador Aleš Bebler planned to invite Henry A Wallace and Thomas I. Emerson to his country Yugoslavia.

Major cases

Emerson's successful argument before the United States Supreme Court include: 1957: Sweezy v. New Hampshire (academic freedom related to Marxist economist Paul Sweezy)

Emerson was also a member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), in which he was active, 1983/4: Roger N. Baldwin Medal of Liberty from the ACLU

Works at the Library of Congress and cited in current references to this entry: "What is the I.J.A.?" (undated) Political and Civil Rights in the United States with David Haber (1952) Toward a General Theory of the First Amendment (1963) "Freedom of Expression in Wartime" (1968) A System of Freedom of Expression (1970) The Bill of Rights Today (1970) "Freedom of the Press under the Burger Court" (1983)

(See "Thomas I. Emerson: Pillar of the Bill of Rights" for full bibliography. )