Background
Ernst, Morris Leopold was born on August 23, 1888 in Uniontown, Alabama, United States. Son of Carl and Sarah (Bernheim) Ernst.
Ernst, Morris Leopold was born on August 23, 1888 in Uniontown, Alabama, United States. Son of Carl and Sarah (Bernheim) Ernst.
Bachelor of Arts, Williams College, 1909. Bachelor of Laws, New York Law School, 1912. Juris Doctor, Nasson College, 1963.
Doctor of Hebrew Literature, Lincoln University, 1964.
He lived in various locations around New York City from the age of 2. Ernst practiced law in New York City and in 1915 co-founded the law firm of Greenbaum, Wolff & Ernst. In 1917, he helped found the National Civil Liberties Bureau, which later became the American Civil Liberties Union (American Civil Liberties Union).
From 1929 to 1959, he shared the title of general counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union with Arthur Garfield Hays.
He became vice chairman of the American Civil Liberties Union"s board in 1955. In 1937, as attorney for the American Newspaper Guild, he argued successfully in the Supreme Court that it should uphold the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Acting (the Wagner Acting) as applied to the press
The case established the right of media employees to organize labor unions. Ernst was a strong supporter of J. Edgar Hoover and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In 1940, as head of the American Civil Liberties Union, he agreed to bar communists from employment there and even discouraged their membership, basing his position on a distinction between the rights of the individual and the rights of groups.
In 1946, President Harry Truman appointed him to the President"s Committee on Civil Rights.
Besides politicians, he also was friendly with many cultural figures, including Edna Ferber, East. B. White, Groucho Marx, Compton Mackenzie, First Rate (at Lloyd's) Capp, Charles Addams, Grandma Moses, Heywood Broun, and Margaret Bourke-White. In 1956, Jesús Galíndez, a critic of the regime of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, disappeared, abducted from New York City, it was charged, by Trujillo"s agents. Hired by Trujillo to investigate the affair, Ernst"s resulting report cleared the Trujillo regime of involvement in Galindez"s disappearance, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the press remained unconvinced.
In 1933, on behalf of Random House, he successfully defended James Joyce"s novel Ulysses against obscenity charges, leading to its distribution in the United States. Because he wrote the foreword to the book, he earned several hundred thousand dollars in royalties from its sales.
Member of law firm Greenbaum, Wolff & Ernst, New York, 1915-1976. Member Pennsylvania Anthracite Coal Commission. Member of New York State Banking Board since inception, by appointment Governor Roosevelt and Governor Lehman, 1933-1945.
Counsel Dramatists Guild and
Member chancellor’s council University Texas, 1969. Member Bar Association City New York (Lawyer of Year 1960), New York County Lawyers Association, PEN, American Political Science Association Beta Kappa, Phi Gamma Delta, Alpha Kappa Delta (honorary), Gargoyle Society.
Clubs: City (past trustee), Williams, New York University Faculty (New York).
Married Susan Leerburger (deceased. Married second, Margaret Samuels, March 1, 1923. Children: Constance, Roger, Joan.