“‘The Hebrews Are Going to Court in Great Numbers’: Max J. Kohler and the Advent of Immigration Lawyering in the United States”

• In Event: States of Legality: Law in Modern Jewish Life

Abstract

Mirroring the birth of American immigration law itself, the first cohort of immigration lawyers emerged in the first decade of the twentieth century. In contrast with the commonplace xenophobia of the profession and of Americans more broadly, these lawyers were the first to challenge the country’s new federal system of immigration regulations. They strove to ensure the admission of immigrants on American shores. This paper examines once case litigated by one such lawyer.

In 1909, Max J. Kohler, an American-born, New York-based attorney, initiated a case on behalf of four Jewish immigrants slated for deportation. Beyond wanting to secure the admission of these four men, Kohler intended to use this case as a vehicle to voice his protestations in a federal courtroom about the injustices of American immigration policy. Historians have depicted the admission of Kohler’s clients as a sign of the success of his legal strategy. However, the men were only admitted due to Commissioner of Immigration William Williams’ desire to silence Kohler’s objections to immigration policies and practices. Kohler’s plan to use this case as a medium for dissent thus failed. Further, the event had lasting implications for Kohler in that it generated longterm animus towards him from immigration officials, thereby undercutting his later legal battles before they even began. The title of this paper, “The Hebrews Are Going to Court in Great Numbers,” is the way in which Williams described the recurring appearance of Kohler and his colleagues in the courts to challenge the country’s immigration laws.

Through a detailed examination of the 1909 case, this paper explores the meaning of success as it pertains to Jewish lawyers in America. By revealing the discriminatory justifications for excluding Jewish immigrants from the United States, it also reengages questions about the supposed ease of American Jewish immigration in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Finally, analysis of Kohler’s professional endeavors reveals how turn-of-the-century Jewish lawyers in America pioneered the field of immigration lawyering.

author

• Britt P. Tevis, University of Wisconsin - Madison