Civil rights attorney Martin Stolar ’68 passed away on July 1 at the age of 81. He served as president of the New York chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) and represented generations of political activists from the 1960s up until the present.
As a member of the New York Law Commune in the early 1970s, Stolar represented members of the Black Panther Party who were charged with conspiring to bomb police stations. After their trial ended in acquittal, Stolar joined with several other attorneys, including Paul Chevigny, later Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Professor of Law Emeritus at NYU Law, in bringing landmark civil rights litigation against the New York Police Department (NYPD). Using evidence that had emerged in the Black Panther trial, they challenged the NYPD’s surveillance of protestors. The 1985 settlement in the case, Handschu v. Special Services Division, limited police surveillance of political and religious activity and instituted oversight of police requests for conducting investigations into protected activities.
In another high-profile case, Stolar helped defend the Camden 28, a group of anti–Vietnam War activists who raided a draft office to destroy records. All were acquitted. When dozens of incarcerated people were indicted in connection with the 1971 uprising at Attica Correctional Facility, Stolar organized lawyers nationwide to represent them and took on a case himself, making a successful motion to dismiss.
After practicing at the New York Law Commune, Stolar became a partner at Stolar, Alterman & Gulielmetti and then a solo practitioner. Over the years, through the NLG’s Mass Defense Committee, he represented thousands of demonstrators arrested at events such as the protests outside the 2004 Republican Convention, Occupy Wall Street, and Black Lives Matter protests.
Posted July 12, 2024