Stanley Fleishman was an American attorney best known for his expertise in the constitutional defense of the First Amendment in obscenity cases and for his advocacy on behalf of the disabled community.
Early life
Stanley Fleishman was born in the Bronx, New York in 1920, and grew up in Queens, New York. His father was an immigrant from Russia who made his living as a printer. When he was a young child, Fleishman contracted polio, and needed to use crutches and braces for the rest of his life because of paralysis in his legs and arm. He attended college at the University of Georgia and Brooklyn College, and graduated with a law degree from Columbia University in 1944.
Career
Fleishman moved to Los Angeles in 1946 and almost immediately began his career as a defense lawyer for targets of obscenity laws, basing his defense on freedom of speech. After twenty-five years of mostly successful outcomes in obscenity trials, he began to advocate in the courtroom for people with disabilities, often in class actioncivil rights lawsuits. He also was an active volunteer for Southwestern Law School’s Institute for the Disabled and the Elderly as well as the Western Law Center for the Handicapped.
Impact
Fleishman participated in and won many First Amendment obscenity cases, defending adult movie theaters, films such as Deep Throat, and well-known books such as Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller, as well as lesser known works such as Sex Life of a Cop. He also litigated many legal cases as an advocate for people with disabilities, including the right of disabled people to serve on juries and have unfettered access to buses, schools, and hotels. Fleishman argued many free speech cases before the Supreme Court. David L. Hudson, Jr. states that “His most important First Amendment case was arguably Smith v. California, which established that booksellers could not be held strictly liable for the contents of every book on their shelves.”
Personal life
Fleishman was married to his wife, Doris, for more than 50 years, and had three children: Bette, Sue, and Judy. He and his family lived for many years in Beverly Hills.
