Carol Weiss King

Carol Weiss King (born Aug. 24, 1895, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died Jan. 22, 1952, New York City) was an American lawyer who specialized in immigration law and the defense of the civil rights of immigrants.

King graduated from Barnard College in New York City in 1916 and entered New York University Law School. In 1917 she married George C. King, an author. She graduated from law school in 1920, was admitted to the bar, and began her practice in the firm of Hale, Nelles, and Schorr. From the first her interest was in defending the victims of antiradical hysteria whose civil rights had been violated. Her involvement in cases turning on immigration law soon made her the preeminent expert in that field. She generally confined herself to research and writing briefs, eschewing courtroom work.

Of the great many U.S. Supreme Court cases in which King was involved, Bilokumsky v. Tod (1923), Mahler v. Eby (1924), Tisi v. Tod (1924), and Vatjauer v. Commissioner of Immigration (1927) were among those that bore on the deportation of aliens and the due process of law therein required. Powell v. Alabama (1932), the first of the “Scottsboro Boys” cases, upheld the right of trial by a fairly chosen jury; De Jonge v. Oregon (1937) and Herndon v. Lowry (1937) reversed convictions of Oregon and Georgia radicals under the “clear and present danger” test. Bridges v. Wixon (1945) and Bridges v. U.S. (1953) defended Harry Bridges, radical president of the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union, against deportation proceedings; and Carlson v. Landon (1952) and Zydok v. Butterfield (1952) defended against prosecutions brought under the McCarran Internal Security Act. The last case was the only one that King argued before the court. She was active in the International Labor Defense, the National Lawyers Guild, the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, and other civil libertarian groups.

In 1932 she founded the International Juridical Association Bulletin, which she edited until 1942, when it merged with the Lawyers Guild Review. She died shortly after her court appearance in Zydok.