Who

Professional firebrand Norman Siegel speaks—and speaks loudly—for progressive causes in New York City, whether it's with the NYCLU or as a candidate for public advocate.

Backstory

Siegel's activism started early. A Borough Park native, he joined the ACLU rafter graduating from NYU Law in 1968. As part of the group's Southern Justice & Voter Law Project, he tackled civil rights issues; he later left to be field director for the New York Civil Liberties Union where he led an impeachment campaign against President Nixon and even once showed up at the summer cabin of Supreme Court Justice William Douglas to beg him to stop the U.S. bombing of Cambodia. In 1985, Siegel was named the group's executive director. He spent more than 15 years butting heads with city authorities—most notably former NYU classmate Rudy Giuliani—over police brutality and free speech issues. In 2001, Siegel resigned to run for public advocate, ultimately losing to Betsy Gotbaum. Undeterred, he ran again in 2005 against Gotbaum and Andrew Rasiej, among others—and lost again. He's believed to planning to make yet another attempt in 2009.

Of note

Siegel has waged dozens of battles in his three decades in the public eye and often takes on clients who can't afford a lawyer and don't have much of a chance of winning their cases, either. Over the past decade, he's represented victims of police brutality and argued for the release of 911 emergency tapes and transcripts on behalf of family members of victims of Sept. 11th. He's defended Eric Adams, a former NYPD captain who was fired over comments he made about NYPD minority relations. And he's represented a long list of liberal advocacy groups, including anti-development groups (like Develop Don't Destroy and the Williamsburg Warriors), the bicycle hordes that make up Critical Mass, the Dance Liberation Front (which is fighting to overturn the city's cabaret laws), and, more recently, performance artist/faux preacher Reverend Billy.

Not all his causes are liberal, though: He famously defended the Ancient Order of Hibernians when they wanted to exclude gays and lesbians from marching in the St. Patrick's Day parade, doing battle with the likes of Christine Quinn. To his fans, he's a champion for civil rights. To his critics, he's an indefatigable grandstander and attention hound who's addicted to the spotlight.

Personal

Discussions about jurisprudence take place at the dinner table, too: Siegel is married to Saralee Evans, a New York City civil court judge. Although they've been together for more than 25 years—it's Evans's second marriage—they only tied the knot in 2000. They have three kids (Evans has two kids with her ex-husband) and live on Central Park West.

Routine

Want to catch Siegel in person? The attention hog spends every Fourth of July in Central Park's Strawberry Fields reading aloud from the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.

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