Persecution by Prosecution: Lessons about Weaponized Legal Systems from the Cold War Harry Bridges Trials - Part 1

• Background Facts
• Bill to Attainder - Art. 1, Sec. 9, Cl. 3
• Ex Parte Bridges, 49 F. Supp. 292 (N.D. Cal. 1943)
• Ninth Circuit Majority, 144 F.2d 927 (9th Cir. 1944)
• Bridges v. Wixon, 325 U.S. 135 (1945)

Much legal talk these days is about the weaponization of the legal system to push political persecution. This program looks at an actual case of a weaponized legal system, what the Supreme Court called a “crusade,” by exploring the Cold War trials of Harry Bridges.

Experienced intellectual property lawyer Peter Afrasiabi, who authored the definitive book on the Harry Bridges trials from National Archive and FBI FOIA records, takes one of the four trials Bridges was subjected to, and looks at how the legal system was contorted to produce what was persecution by prosecution, identifying along the way some of the issues that led the Supreme Court to conclude so. It looks at the law relating to bills of attainder, the use of infirm hearsay evidence for substantive purposes instead of impeachment, the nature of how federal courts review trial court decisions, and agency deference. At the same time, there are some lessons learned from that case in terms of advocacy for lawyers litigating in the trenches of these cases to maintain balance and not overstep their bounds in making countercharges. It gives a roadmap to identify a true example of an as-found weaponized legal system.

Part 1 will leave you wanting to see Part 2 and the subsequent trials that again returned Bridges to the Supreme Court.

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