Walker was fired from her first law firm, which she attributed to her gender. In the mid-1940s she left legal practice and became a
labor organizer in a series of canneries, being fired when her employers learned she was a Communist. From 1946 to 1949 she worked at Cutter Laboratories in San Francisco, becoming a union leader before being fired in 1949. A labor-management arbitration panel ordered her reinstated, on the grounds that Cutter had long known she was a Communist and improperly dismissed Walker for her union activity, but in a 4-3 ruling the
California Supreme Court declared that a Communist had no right to a job, even under a union contract. This case has since been overruled, as the federal policy of deference to labor arbitration is regarded as
preempting the field. After being fired by Cutter Labs, Walker returned to legal practice, representing people charged under the 1940
Smith Act for the "crime" of being members of the Communist Party. In the 1950s Walker represented individuals subpoenaed before the
House Un-American Activities Committee, and in 1953 appeared before the committee herself, declining to answer any questions on a number of grounds, including that constitutionally the congressional committee was only entitled to act in a legislative capacity, and it was evident that it was seeking to act in a judicial capacity. In 1961 Walker was a founding partner, with
Robert Treuhaft, at the firm of Treuhaft, Walker and Burnstein. She remained a partner until 1977. In 1971 and 1972 Walker played a key role in the defense of
Angela Davis in her historic California murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy trial in which Davis faced the death penalty. The defense pioneered use of the media and jury consultants. In 1970, Walker was elected the first woman president of the
National Lawyers Guild. Walker remained active in her 80s as a guild lawyer in the
San Francisco Bay chapter on the Labor & Employment Committee and the State Bar Committee, and was an East Bay leader in the
Gray Panthers. The resolution follows: Resolved, that the Conference of Delegates of California Bar Associations urges California Congressional Delegation to commence a Congressional investigation of representations by George Bush, Dick Cheney, and the Bush Administration, used to justify war on Iraq and Afghanistan to Congress, the United Nations and to the people of the U.S. and the world, without a formal request for Congress to declare war. == References ==