[2] In 1937, he headed an independent investigation of an incident in which 19 people were killed and more than 200 wounded in Ponce, Puerto Rico, when police fired at them.

[4] From this point, his career had two tracks: he vigorously defended the individual liberty of victims of discriminatory laws, and he also kept private work.

He became a wealthy lawyer who represented the interests of power and fame (his more prominent clients ranged from Wall Street brokers and best-selling authors to notorious gamblers and the Dionne quintuplets).

Hays, counsel for Mayer and Burstyn at yesterday's proceedings, ridiculed the objections of Irwin Esmond and the Regents to certain scenes, pointing out that the film was French and would appeal only to an educated audience.

Counsel for the Regents based his plea on the film's theme of sex frustration, arguing that it would be unwise public policy to show it to all classes of people.

Film censorship in the United States was not overturned until the U.S. Supreme Court case, the Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson (the "Miracle Decision") in 1952.

He defended Owen Lattimore and Philip Jessup but conceded that there were "a few" communists in the State Department and cited Alger Hiss.

[citation needed] In 1958, New York University established the Arthur Garfield Hays Civil Liberties Program at its School of Law.

His articles and book reviews demonstrate his wide-ranging knowledge of a nation and a world experiencing dramatic change in the way individual rights were perceived.

[citation needed] Arthur Garfield Hays was renowned for his spirited defense of First Amendment freedoms, representing pivotal cases that shaped the American legal landscape.

His involvement in the Scopes Monkey Trial and the defense of individuals like H. L. Mencken underscored his commitment to free speech and the press.

Hays's legal acumen also shone in the Scottsboro Boys case, where he fought against racial injustice, highlighting his dedication to civil liberties beyond the courtroom.