Hilbert Philip Zarky

Who is Hilbert Philip Zarky?

Hilbert Philip Zarky was a prominent tax attorney, first for the United States Department of Justice and then in the private sector; he also was a significant contributor to civil liberties litigation.

Zarky was born in Madison, Wisconsin on September 19, 1912, to Max and Gertrude Zarky. He attended Central High School. He then attended the University of Wisconsin, where he obtained a law degree in 1937, graduating Order of the Coif. In 1939, he married Norma Gertrude Goldstein.

After graduation, Zarky moved to Washington, D.C. and worked for the Treasury Department. In 1943 he joined the Department of Justice, where he became a Special Assistant to the Attorney General, preparing and arguing tax cases on appeal in the Circuit Courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. He appeared on behalf of the Department of Justice in over 300 cases in the Courts of Appeals and dozens of cases in the United States Supreme Court.

In 1947, Zarky co-authored the Solicitor General's amicus brief in Shelley v. Kraemer, urging the Supreme Court to strike down racially restrictive covenants. However, his name and that of the other Jewish co-authors were stricken out of concern that it would appear that "a bunch of Jewish lawyers in the Department of Justice put this out."