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Walter Nelles (1883–1937) was an American lawyer and law professor. He is best known for helping to start the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). He was also the first main lawyer for the ACLU.

Nelles became well-known for his legal work during World War I. He defended people who believed in peace (called pacifists). These people were accused of breaking the Espionage Act. This law made it illegal to speak out against the war. Nelles also worked on other important cases about civil rights and constitutional law. These cases protected people's basic freedoms.

Early Life and Education

Walter Nelles was born on April 21, 1883, in Leavenworth, Kansas. His father, George Thomas Nelles, was a civil engineer.

Walter went to a well-known school called Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. After that, he went to Harvard University and earned his first degree in 1905.

After college, Nelles taught at the University of Wisconsin from 1905 to 1907. He then went back to Harvard and got a Master's degree in 1908. He then studied law at Harvard Law School. He finished law school in 1911. While studying, he also taught at Lowell Institute and Radcliffe College.

Career as a Lawyer

After passing the test to become a lawyer, Nelles started his own legal work.

Working with Other Lawyers

During World War I, Nelles was a partner in the law firm of Hale, Nelles & Shorr. In the 1920s, he worked with other lawyers who believed in social justice. These lawyers included Joseph R. Brodsky, Swinburne Hale, Carol Weiss King, and Isaac Shorr.

In 1920, Nelles helped defend five members of the Socialist Party of America. These members had been elected to the New York State Assembly. However, they were not allowed to take their seats. This happened because the Speaker of the House, Thaddeus C. Sweet, worked with members of both the Republican and Democratic Parties.

Nelles also tried to help solve arguments among different groups of activists. In 1922, he joined a committee to investigate claims against the Friends of Soviet Russia (FSR). People said the FSR was misusing money raised to help people in Soviet Russia who were suffering from famine. The committee found that FSR was innocent. However, Nelles did not sign the final report. This was because he was a lawyer for the FSR, which could look like a conflict of interest.

In 1924, Nelles and Shorr took two cases, United States ex rel. Tisi v. Tod and United States ex rel. Mensevich v. Tod, to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Starting the ACLU

Nelles believed in peace and did not support war. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, his friend Roger Baldwin asked him to join a new group. This group was called the National Civil Liberties Bureau (NCLB). It was part of the American Union Against Militarism. Nelles left his private law practice to work for this new organization. The NCLB later became the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

In its early years, the Civil Liberties Bureau mainly handled cases for conscientious objectors. These were people who refused to fight in the war for moral or religious reasons. They also defended political opponents of the war. These people faced charges under the Espionage Act. Nelles worked on important cases, including the trial of the American Socialist Society and its Rand School of Social Science. He also worked on the trial of Max Eastman and his publication, The Masses.

On August 30, 1918, agents from the Department of Justice raided the NCLB offices. They took all of Nelles' files. The raid was done without proper search warrants.

Nelles and Baldwin were joined by Albert DeSilver, another lawyer. DeSilver also left his private practice to work full-time defending civil liberties. These three men guided the NCLB and the ACLU in their first years. Roger Baldwin later said they were a great team. DeSilver was good at making quick decisions. Nelles thought deeply about legal issues and sometimes got angry about unfairness. Baldwin was good at organizing and getting the word out.

Sadly, Albert DeSilver died in 1924 at age 36. Nelles later wrote a book about DeSilver's life, which was published in 1940.

Teaching Law

Later in his career, Nelles taught at Yale Law School. He often taught classes about the history of legal orders that stop actions, called injunctions, especially in labor disputes.

Personal Life and Death

Walter Nelles believed in social democracy in the 1920s. This is a political idea that supports social and economic equality. He was also a member of the League for Industrial Democracy. By the time he died, his friends saw him as a liberal rather than a socialist.

Walter Nelles died on April 1, 1937, in New Haven, Connecticut. He was 53 years old and had been sick for a short time.

Works

Books and Pamphlets

  • Espionage Act Cases, with Certain Others on Related Points: New Law in Making as to Criminal Utterance in War-time. New York: National Civil Liberties Bureau, 1918.
  • Seeing Red: Civil Liberty and Law in the Period Following the War. New York: American Civil Liberties Union, 1920.
  • A Liberal in Wartime: The Education of Albert DeSilver. New York: W.W. Norton, 1940.

Articles

  • "Contempt by Publication in the United States," Part One: Columbia Law Review, vol. 28, no. 4 (April 1928), pp. 401–431; Part Two: vol. 28, no. 5 (May 1928) pp. 525–562. With Carol Weiss King.
  • "A Strike and its Legal Consequences: An Examination of the Receivership Precedent for the Labor Injunction," Yale Law Journal, vol. v. 40, no. 4 (February 1931), pp. 507–554.
  • "The Summary Power to Punish for Contempt," Columbia Law Review, vol. 31, no. 6 (June 1931), pp. 956–974.
  • "The First American Labor Case," Yale Law Journal, vol. 41, no. 2 (December 1931), pp. 165–200.
  • "Commonwealth v. Hunt," Columbia Law Review, vol. 32, no. 7 (November 1932), pp. 1128–1169.
  • "Towards Legal Understanding," Columbia Law Review, Part One: vol. 34, no. 5 (May 1934), pp. 862–889; Part Two: vol. 34, no. 6 (June 1934), pp. 1041–1075.

See also

External sources

  • Norman L. Meyers, "Walter Nelles," Yale Law Journal, vol. 46, no. 8 (June 1937), pp. 1279–1281.
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