Alan Dershowitz
Lawyer
1938-09-01
Alan Dershowitz is an American attorney, legal scholar, and author. He taught for decades at Harvard Law School and participated in several high-profile legal cases. His writing and commentary focus on constitutional and criminal law.
Books by Alan Dershowitz
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Quotes by Alan Dershowitz
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Bigotry against any group should be disqualifying for high office.
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Bigotry against any group should be disqualifying for high office.
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There is a paranoid streak in American life. Radio talk show hosts tend to foment that paranoid streak in American life.
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Good character consists of recognizing the selfishness that inheres in each of us and trying to balance it against the altruism to which we should all aspire. It is a difficult balance to strike, but no definition of goodness can be complete without it.
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If torture is going to be administered as a last resort in the ticking-bomb case, to save enormous numbers of lives, it ought to be done openly, with accountability, with approval by the president of the United States or by a Supreme Court justice.
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In my neighborhood, everyone had an opinion on the local cantor. You didn't go to a synagogue to listen to the rabbi's sermon. You went to listen to the cantor. It was like a concert.
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You're absolutely right: Bob Grant is a racist, Bob Grant is a bigot, he's a despicable talk show host and I agree with that.
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You know, it's ironic to me that Christians want to keep the Ten Commandments in our schools, because Christianity has abrogated four of the Ten Commandments. For example, the Sabbath day according to the Ten Commandments is Saturday, not Sunday. And the reason is because God rested, not because Jesus was resurrected.
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The threat or fear of violence should not become an excuse or justification for restricting freedom of speech.
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I've had such a satisfying life professionally and personally. I hope my tombstone says, 'Never boring.'
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I'm a very tough guy, and I fight hard, and I don't give up. And that makes me friends and that makes me enemies, and I know that.
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The prosecution wants to make sure the process by which the evidence was obtained is not truthfully presented, because, as often as not, that process will raise questions.
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The vast majority of gun owners don't kill, but people who do kill, tend to kill with guns, and often with illegal guns.
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A criminal trial is never about seeking justice for the victim. If it were, there could be only one verdict: guilty.
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It's never acceptable to target civilians. It violates the Geneva Accords, it violates the international law of war and it violates all principles of morality.
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Asymmetrical warfare is a euphemism for terrorism, just like collateral damage is a euphemism for killing innocent civilians.
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I think there would be less torture with a warrant requirement than without one.
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Judges are the weakest link in our system of justice, and they are also the most protected.
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In some ways, Israel has achieved a peace. There are fewer rockets being sent into Sderot, there are no rockets to speak of from the North, there has been very little terrorism from the West Bank. It's a kind of peace. I hope for a better and more enduring peace. Peace is not an endgame; we will never be completely at peace.
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I believe that if Israel were to put an end to the settlements in the West Bank tomorrow, as it did in Gaza, there would still be reluctance on the part of the Palestinian Authority to recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish secular democracy.
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