Frank Askin, who enrolled in law school when he was 31 and devoted the next 50 years to defending the civil liberties of Americans suspected of being disruptive radicals, died on July 1 at a hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. to purge its investigative files on a 15-year-old high school student who had written to the Socialist Workers Party to gather information for a political science course. He also won the rights of residents to challenge the rules of their homeowners’ associations and of the homeless to have access to public libraries. After dropping out of college in Baltimore to become a community organizer and journalist, Mr. Askin was admitted to Rutgers Law School in New Jersey. He was the founder of the Rutgers Law Constitutional Litigation Clinic (now the Constitutional Rights Clinic).

Source: New York Times July 16, 2021 18:11 UTC