Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T14:38:47.554Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Spokesman Conundrum: “Is It Good for the Jews?”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

Aviam Soifer
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Battles concerning who legitimately speaks for minority groups pervade US history. The historically decentralized organization of American Jewry affords a prime example of this key leadership dilemma. Competing approaches to how to deal with Henry Ford's virulent anti‐Semitism and extensive hate speech in the 1920s underscore the familiar, yet seldom carefully analyzed, tension between confrontation and negotiation that is often faced by outside groups and their spokesmen who seek change, wish to defend themselves, and/or hope for increased inclusion.

Type
Review Essay
Information
Law & Social Inquiry , Volume 40 , Issue 4 , Fall 2015 , pp. 1039 - 1048
Copyright
Copyright © American Bar Foundation, 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Andersen, Ellen Ann. 2005. Out of the Closets and Into the Courts: Legal Opportunity Structure and Gay Rights Litigation. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Barclay, Scott, and Chomsky, Daniel. 2014. How Do Cause Lawyers Decide When and Where to Litigate on Behalf of Their Cause? Law & Society Review 48:595–620.Google Scholar
Bell, Derrick A. Jr. 1975–1976. Serving Two Masters: Integration Ideals and Client Interests in School Desegregation Litigation. Yale Law Journal 85:470–516.Google Scholar
Diner, Hasia R. 2004. The Jews of the United States, 1654 to 2000. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Eskridge, William Jr. 1996. The Case for Same‐Sex Marriage. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Feldman, Noah. 2014. The Stars of Jo Becker's Misleading Book on Gay Marriage Are Racing to Claim Even More Credit. The New Republic, April 18. http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117442/gay‐marriage‐book‐jo‐becker‐claims‐boies‐olson‐are‐heroes (accessed September 8, 2014).Google Scholar
Golobuff, Risa. 2007. The Lost Promise of Civil Rights. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Kaplan, Yosef. 1984. The Social Functions of the Herem in the Portuguese Jewish Community of Amsterdam in the Seventeenth Century. Dutch Jewish History 1:111–55.Google Scholar
Lawrence, Frederick M. 1999. Punishing Hate: Bias Crimes Under American Law Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Mack, Kenneth W. 2012. Representing the Race: The Creation of the Civil Rights Lawyer. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Nadler, Stephen. 1999. Spinoza: A Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Paulson, Michael. 2014a. Jewish Groups Consider Including J Street. New York Times, April 29.Google Scholar
Paulson, Michael. 2014b. Jewish Coalition Rejects Lobbying Group's Bid to Join. New York Times, April 30.Google Scholar
Roth, Philip. 2004. The Plot Against America. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Sarat, Austin, and Scheingold, Stuart A.. 2004. Something to Believe In: Politics, Professionalism, and Cause Lawyering. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Sarat, Austin, and Scheingold, Stuart A., eds. 2006. Cause Lawyers and Social Movements. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Scult, Mel. 1993. Judaism Faces the Twentieth Century: A Biography of Mordecai M. Kaplan. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.Google Scholar
Silver, Zachary. 2010. The Excommunication of Mordecai Kaplan. American Jewish Archives Journal 62:21–48.Google Scholar
Soifer, Aviam. 1995. Law and the Company We Keep. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Woeste, Victoria Saker. 1998. The Farmer's Benevolent Trust. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Woeste, Victoria Saker. 2012. Henry Ford's War on the Jews and the Legal Battle Against Hate Speech. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar

Cases Cited

Beauharnais v. Illinois, 343 U.S. 250 (1952).Google Scholar
Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).Google Scholar
Collins v. Oklahoma State Hospital, 184 P. 946 (1916).Google Scholar
Minersville School District v. Gobitis, 310 U.S. 586 (1940).Google Scholar
R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul, 505 U.S. 377 (1992).Google Scholar
Saint Francis College v. Al‐Khazarji, 481 U.S. 604 (1987).Google Scholar
Shaare Tefila Congregation v. Cobb, 481 U.S. 615 (1987).Google Scholar
Spanel v. Pegler, 160 F.2d 619 (7th Cir. 1955).Google Scholar
Virginia v. Black, 538 U.S. 343 (2003).Google Scholar
Von Gerichten v. Seitz, 94 A.D. 130 (N.Y. App. Div. 1904).Google Scholar
West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943).Google Scholar