William Moses Kunstler was an American attorney and civil rights activist, known for defending the Chicago Seven. Kunstler was an active member of the National Lawyers Guild, a board member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the co-founder of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the "leading gathering place for radical lawyers in the country."
William Kunstler
Kunstler represented the first Title IX federal removal cases under the Civil Rights Act of 1964: protesters at the 1964 New York World's Fair.
Kunstler at a rally in Los Angeles, March 1970
At the time of Kunstler's death, he was defending Omar Abdel-Rahman ("the Blind Sheik") for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
The Chicago Seven, originally the Chicago Eight and also known as the Conspiracy Eight or Conspiracy Seven, were seven defendants – Rennie Davis, David Dellinger, John Froines, Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and Lee Weiner – charged by the United States Department of Justice with conspiracy, crossing state lines with intent to incite a riot, and other charges related to anti-Vietnam War and 1960s counterculture protests in Chicago, Illinois during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The Chicago Eight became the Chicago Seven after the case against codefendant Bobby Seale was declared a mistrial.
Poster in support of the "Conspiracy 8"
Bobby Seale as depicted by Franklin McMahon at the trial
Chicago Seven at a news conference, February 28, 1970
