Isaac Shorr

{{Short description|American immigration lawyer}} [[File:ChicagoAnarchists.jpg|right|thumb|Engraving by Walter Crane of executed "Anarchists of Chicago" after the Haymarket affair (1886), an event that affected Shorr and many in his generation]] '''Isaac Shorr''' (ca. 1882–1964) was a 20th-century American immigration and naturalization lawyer and philosophical anarchist who worked with other important, radical lawyers in the 1920s–1940s and whose legal partners included: Swinburne Hale, Walter Nelles, Joseph R. Brodsky, and Carol Weiss King.<ref name=NYTobit> {{cite news | title = Isaac Shorr Is Dead | work = New York Times | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1964/04/26/isaac-shorr-is-dead.html?mcubz=1&_r=0 | date = 26 April 1964 | access-date = 27 September 2017}}</ref>

==Background== [[File:Nyu law vanderbilt.jpg|thumb|right|New York University School of Law's Vanderbilt Hall, where Shorr studied]]

Isaac Shorr was born about 1882 in Russia (at that time, the Russian Empire). In 1904, his family emigrated to the United States. In 1913, he graduated from New York University School of Law after studying at night and working by day as a cigarmaker. In 1915, he was admitted to the New York bar.<ref name=NYTobit />

==Career== [[File:An A-Team of Industrial Unionism. Quinlan, Tresca, Flynn, Lessing, and Haywood in Paterson, 1913 Edit.jpg|thumb|right|1913 photo of Paterson silk strike leaders Patrick Quinlan, Carlo Tresca, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Adolph Lessig, and Bill Haywood–Tresca was well known to Shorr and his law partners]] During World War I, Shorr was a partner of Hale, Nelles, and Shorr, which "defended radicals." In 1920, Hale wrote to Tom Mooney, "We are in a hot bed of repression here, with only a very few lawyers who are willing and able to handle the situation, and who are hopelessly overworked."<ref> {{cite book | first = Richard | last = Polenberg | title = Fighting Faiths: The Abrams Case, the Supreme Court, and Free Speech | publisher = Cornell University Press | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=UCvOpLFFVSgC | page = 75 | date = 1999 | access-date = 27 September 2017| isbn = 0801486181 }}</ref> His partners were Swinburne Hale and Walter Nelles. Carlo Tresca, a prominent Italian anarchist, was well acquainted with them.<ref name=Pernicone> {{cite book | first = Nunzio | last = Pernicone | title = Carlo Tresca: Portrait of a Rebel | publisher = Read How You Want | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=shtz-a4BtY0C | page = 227 (firm), 397 (Darrow) | date = 25 April 2011 | access-date = 27 September 2017| isbn = 9781459618909 }}</ref> Shorr and Nelles served as counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The firm support legal investigations published in the 67-page ''Report upon the Illegal Practices of the United States Department of Justice'' by the National Popular Government League (NGPL); Swinburne Hale did a majority of the work on the report.<ref> {{cite book | first = Donald L. | last = Smith | title = Zechariah Chafee, Jr., Defender of Liberty and Law | publisher = Harvard University Press | url = https://archive.org/details/zechariahchafeej00smit | url-access = registration | page = [https://archive.org/details/zechariahchafeej00smit/page/48 48] | date = 1986 | isbn = 9780674966857 | access-date = 28 September 2017}}</ref>

In 1920, Shorr testified before Congress that he was representing more than 60 people involved in deportation during the Palmer Raids.<ref> {{cite book | title = Hearings of the United States Congress, House. Committee on Immigration and Naturalization | publisher = US GPO | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=TPaNAAAAMAAJ | page = 34 | date = 1920 | access-date = 28 September 2017}}</ref><ref> {{cite book | title = Hearings of the United States Congress, House. Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, Proposed Changes in Naturalization Laws | publisher = US GPO | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4G0-AAAAYAAJ | page = 34 | date = 1920 | access-date = 28 September 2017}}</ref> In fact, during the Palmer Raids, the U.S. Government noted: <blockquote>Mr. Shorr is well known to the department because of his activities as attorney for these people. He many times has appeared as attorney for salients who have never seen him until the hearing and disclaimed any knowledge of his retainer. Mr. Shorr is one of the most active leaders of these people in the United States, and at the present time his office is the address at which persons in this country receive incendiary correspondence from persons deported on the ''Buford''.<ref> {{cite book | title = Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer on Charges Made Against Department of Justice by Louis F. Post and Others: Hearings Before the Committee on Rules, House of Representatives, Sixty-sixth Congress, Second Session, Part 1 | publisher = US GPO | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tj47AAAAYAAJ | pages = 79–80 | date = 1920 | access-date = 28 September 2017}}</ref></blockquote>

Joseph R. Brodsky and Carol Weiss King worked with this firm, as did Vito Marcantonio (whose mentor was Brodsky).<ref name="Ginger"> {{cite book | last = Ginger | first = Ann Fagan | title = Carol Weiss King, human rights lawyer, 1895-1952 | publisher = University Press of Colorado | location = Boulder | year = 1993 | isbn = 0-87081-285-8 | lccn = 92040157 }}</ref><ref name=dearest> {{cite news | first = Craig | last = Thompson | title = The Communists's Dearest Friend | publisher = Saturday Evening Post | pages = 30, 90–93 | date = 17 February 1951}}</ref><ref name=Encyclopedia> {{cite web | title = King, Carol Weiss (1895–1952) | publisher = Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia | url = http://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/king-carol-weiss-1895-1952 | date = 18 May 2010 | access-date = 27 September 2017}}</ref><ref name="JWA"> {{cite web | title = Carol Weiss King | publisher = Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia | url = http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/king-carol-weiss | access-date = 27 December 2010}}</ref><ref name=Murtagh> {{cite web | first = Matthew | last = Murtagh | title = Politician, Social Worker, and Lawyer. Vito Marcantonio and Constituent Legal Services | publisher = VitoMarcantonio.com | url = http://www.vitomarcantonio.com/oa_politician_social_worker_lawyer.html | date = 18 May 2010 | access-date = 27 September 2017}}</ref>

In 1924, Shorr and Nelles appealed ''United States ex rel. Tisi v. Tod'' (1924) and ''United States ex rel. Mensevich v. Tod'' before the U.S. Supreme Court.<ref> {{cite web | title = United States ex rel. Tisi v. Tod | publisher = Wikisource | url = https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/United_States_ex_rel._Tisi_v._Tod | access-date = 28 September 2017}}</ref><ref> {{cite web | title = United States ex rel. Mensevich v. Tod | publisher = Wikisource | url = https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/United_States_ex_rel._Mensevich_v._Tod | access-date = 28 September 2017}}</ref>

By 1924, Shorr was a member of "Shorr, Brodsky, and King"<ref name=Encyclopedia /><ref> {{cite web | title = UNITED STATES ex rel. GILETTI v. COMMISSIONER OF IMMIGRATION, ELLIS ISLAND, NEW YORK HARBOR. | publisher = Court Listener | url = https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1488609/united-states-v-commissioner-of-immigration/ | date = 4 November 1929 | access-date = 28 September 2017}}</ref> (also called "Brodsky, King & Shorr,"<ref name=Hearings1950> {{cite book | title = Hearings of the United States Congress House Committee on Un-American Activities | publisher = US GPO | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=TdcJAAAAIAAJ | page = 2979 (Lowenthal), 2988 (death), 2992 | date = 1950 | access-date = 27 September 2017}}</ref> called a "loose" partnership).<ref name="JWA" /><ref> {{cite web | title = UNITED STATES ex rel. BRAZIER et al. v. COMMISSIONER OF IMMIGRATION AT PORT OF NEW YORK | publisher = Court Listener | url = https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1550578/united-states-v-commissioner-of-immigration/ | date = 15 December 1924 | access-date = 27 December 2010}}</ref> The other two partners were: * '''Joseph R. Brodsky''', chief counsel of the International Labor Defense (ILD), legal arm of the Communist Party of the USA (then the Workers Party of America, best known for his work on the legal defense team of the Scottsboro Boys * '''Carol Weiss King''', the youngest, who was just starting her career as immigration and civil rights lawyer, best known for her defense of alleged Communists Harry Bridges, Gerhart Eisler, and J. Peters Brodsky helped found the ILD with King's help; King founded the International Juridical Association (IJA) with Brodsky's help. [[File:Clarence S Darrow.jpg|thumb|right|Clarence Darrow circa 1925, whom Shorr helped defend two Italian anti-fascists in 1927]] In 1927, Shorr associated with Clarence Darrow and Arthur Garfield Hays to help defend the anti‐Fascists Calogero Greco and Donato Carillo for the alleged murder of the Fascist Joseph Carisi (Giuseppe Carisi) in the Bronx.<ref name=NYTobit /> On December 9, 1927, the trial began, and the full defense team included Darrow, Hays, Shorr, and King.<ref name=Pernicone /> They won an acquittal.

In 1934, the American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born (ACPFB) retained Shorr and King defended Domenico Sallitti (also known as Domenic Sallitti, an "alien anarchist") in the Ferrero-Sallitti Case in San Francisco. Sallitti's friend Valerio Isca organized their defense, created a Ferrero-Sallittii Defense Conference, and enlisted Rose Pesotta of the ILGWU to help raise bail. Supporters likened their case to that of Sacco and Vanzetti.<ref name=Jung> {{cite book | editor-first = Moon-Ho | editor-last = Jung | title = The Rising Tide of Color: Race, State Violence, and Radical Movements across the Pacific | publisher = University of Washington Press | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=shtz-a4BtY0C | pages = 141–143 | date = 1 July 2014 | access-date = 27 September 2017| isbn = 9781459618909 }}</ref>

==Personal and death==

Shorr married Bessie Goldenburg; they had two daughters.<ref name=NYTobit />

He was a "ponderous, philosophical anarchist."<ref name=Jung />

Shorr died aged 82 on April 23, 1964.<ref name=NYTobit />

Shorr's grandson Gene Weingarten is a Washington Post journalist who has won two Pulitzer Prizes for feature writing.

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shorr, Isaac}} Category:1880s births Category:1964 deaths Category:American trade union leaders