Alan Dershowitz

Alan Dershowitz
Professor Alan M. Dershowitz is Brooklyn native who has been called "the nation's most peripatetic civil liberties lawyer" and one of its "most distinguished defenders of individual rights," "the best-known criminal lawyer in the world," "the top lawyer of last resort," "America's most public Jewish defender" and "Israel's single most visible defender - the Jewish state's lead attorney in the court of public opinion." He is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. Dershowitz, a graduate of Brooklyn College and Yale Law School, joined the Harvard Law School faculty at age 25 after clerking for Judge David Bazelon and Justice Arthur Goldberg. He has also published more than 100 articles in magazines and journals such as The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post. The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, The Nation, Commentary, Saturday Review, The Harvard Law Review and the Yale Law Journal, and more than 300 of his articles have appeared in syndication in 50 national daily newspapers. Professor Dershowitz is the author of 27 fiction and non-fiction works with a worldwide audience. His most recent titles include "an exceptional, action packed book," The Trials of Zion, a novel which has been called "a thought-provoking page turner," Rights From Wrong, The Case For Israel, The Case For Peace, Blasphemy: How the Religious Right is Hijacking the Declaration of Independence and Preemption: A Knife that Cuts Both Ways, Finding Jefferson - A Lost Letter, A Remarkable Discovery, Shouting Fire and The First Amendment In An Age of Terrorism. In addition to his numerous law review articles and books about criminal and constitutional law, he has written, taught and lectured about history, philosophy, psychology, literature, mathematics, theology, music, sports - and even delicatessens. In 1983, the Anti-Defamation League of the B'nai B'rith presented him with the William O. Douglas First Amendment Award for his "compassionate eloquent leadership and persistent advocacy in the struggle for civil and human rights." In presenting the award, Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel said: "If there had been a few people like Alan Dershowitz during the 1930s and 1940s, the history of European Jewry might have been different." Professor Dershowitz has been awarded the honorary doctor of laws degree by Yeshiva University, the Hebrew Union College, Brooklyn College, Syracuse University, Tel Aviv University, New York City College and Haifa University.

ARTICLES BY: Alan Dershowitz

May 10, 2013 12:51 pm

Stephen Hawking Endorses Iranian and Chinese Repression

The only logical conclusion that can be derived from Stephen Hawking's decision to join the academic boycott of Israel, coupled with his enthusiastic visits to Iran...

May 7, 2013 2:27 pm

Jews Who Boo Efforts to Make Peace

There are a small number of extremely vocal right wing Jews who believe that retaining the entire West Bank is more important than trying to...

April 9, 2013 11:59 am

Cardozo Law School’s Honoring of Jimmy Carter Provides an Educational Moment

The ill-advised decision by a student run journal of conflict resolution at the Cardozo Law School to honor Jimmy Carter provides a long overdue opportunity...

February 26, 2013 1:34 pm

Pink Anti-Semitism Is No Different from Brown Anti-Semitism

The core characteristic of anti-Semitism is the assertion that everything the Jews do is wrong, and everything that is wrong is done by the Jews. ...

February 20, 2013 1:26 am

Will The Catholic Church Return to its Anti-Semitic History?

The Catholic Church has a long and disturbing history of tolerating priests, bishops and even cardinals who preach classic anti-Semitism. Cardinal Joseph Glemp, the Polish...

February 7, 2013 5:18 pm

Brooklyn College, and the High Cost of Defending Israel

Whenever I speak in support of Israel or in criticism of its enemies, the dogs of defamation are unleashed against me. The attacks, all from...

February 4, 2013 11:03 am

Ed Koch: The Death of a Liberal Israel Lover

The passing of Ed Koch marks the beginning of the end of an important era in American Jewish life. Koch represented a time when support...

February 1, 2013 3:35 pm

Does Brooklyn College Pass the “Shoe on the Other Foot” Test?

The decision by the Brooklyn College political science department to endorse the BDS movement—which includes the boycotting of Jewish-Israeli academics—has been "justified" on freedom of...

January 30, 2013 2:12 pm

Brooklyn College Political Science Department Denies Equal Free Speech and Academic Freedom to Pro-Israel Students and Faculty

The international campaign to delegitimate Israel by subjecting the Jewish state—and the Jewish State alone—to boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) has now come to the most...

January 24, 2013 11:11 am