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 18, 2012 2:12 pm

New Evidence is Consistent with George Zimmerman’s Self Defense Claim

A medical report by George Zimmerman's doctor has disclosed that Zimmerman had a fractured nose, two black eyes, two lacerations on the back of his head and...

May 17, 2012 11:23 am

Making the Positive Case for Israel

The world well knows of Israel's military prowess in protecting its citizens against threats of terrorism and the even greater threat of a...

May 1, 2012 9:25 am

Gertrude Stein: Suppressing Ugly Truth for Beautiful Art

The Metropolitan Museum in New York, in its current exhibit on the collection of Gertrude Stein and her family, has made a decision to suppress...

April 18, 2012 11:25 am

Netanyahu Named on Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People List

For the second year in a row, Time Magazine named Benjamin Netanyahu to its list of the The 100 Most Influential People. U.S. representative Eric Cantor,...

April 10, 2012 5:33 pm

Gunter Grass Should be Taken on a Tour of Israel

The decision by Israel's Interior Minister to bar German writer, Gunter Grass, from entering the Jewish state is both foolish and self-defeating. Grass wrote an absurdly...

March 20, 2012 12:52 pm

Why Deterrence Won’t Work Against Iran?

Following President Obama's strong renunciation of "containment" and his expression of willingness to use military force as a last resort to prevent Iran from developing...

March 2, 2012 5:06 pm

Dershowitz: President Obama Turns a Corner on Iran

President Obama has turned an important corner in his efforts to persuade Iran not to try to develop nuclear weapons, and in his efforts to...

February 28, 2012 8:40 am

Media Matters Hurts Obama

It's the kind of anti-Jewish hate speech you'd expect to find on a neo Nazi website or in a Patrick Buchanan column: American Jews who...

February 27, 2012 11:54 am

Harvard’s Anti-Israel Hate Fest Demands Scrutiny

What would Harvard do if a group of right wing students and faculty decided to convene a conference on the topic, "Are the Palestinians...

February 15, 2012 1:47 pm

Europe and Israel may be America’s Only Remaining Reliable Allies

In a quickly changing world, it is important to ask which countries the United States can always count on in times of crisis. Recent events...

February 13, 2012 2:29 pm

Iran Has Declared War Against Israel and the Jewish People

If Iran is indeed behind the spate of recent bombings and foiled attacks that have targeted Israeli and Jewish civilian institutions in India, Georgia, Azerbajan...

February 2, 2012 3:38 pm

A Victory Over Bigotry at Friends Seminary

The Friends Seminary in New York, which made the God-awful mistake in judgment of twice inviting Gilad Atzmon to meet with its students, has now...

January 17, 2012 4:49 pm

A Challenge to the Friends Seminary: Let Your Students Read This Essay About How the School is Legitimating Anti-Semitism

If you want to understand why anti-Semitism seems to be increasing among young people—especially young people on the hard left—consider a recent invitation extended by...

January 6, 2012 9:47 am