Free Republic

A paradigmatic characteristic of all bigotry is to take a fault that is widespread among all cultures, races, religions and nationalities and to attribute it singularly to one group. For example: “Blacks are violent.” “Jews are cheap.” “Asians are sly.” “Gays are pedophiles.” “Women are irrational.” “Romanies (gypsies) cheat.” The truth, of course, is that all groups have some among them with these negative characteristics. The bigots who make these claims correctly point to the fact that some members of these groups display the negative characteristics attributed to the groups as a whole. But the bigotry consists of singling out...

Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz said Sunday that the Obama administration was naive and had possibly made a "cataclysmic error of gigantic proportions" in its deal to ease sanctions on Iran in exchange for an opening up of the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. "I think it could turn out to be a cataclysmic error of gigantic proportions," Dershowitz said of the deal, which he described as "naive." "It could also turn out to be successful, to be the beginning of a negotiated resolution," Dershowitz told Newsmax on Sunday. "But I think the likelihood of it being the former is considerably...

Famed attorney, author, and long-time liberal commentator Alan Dershowitz said that he favored a woman's right to choose abortion but that he could not find such a right in the Constitution. “I can’t find anything in the Constitution that says you prefer the life of the mother, or the convenience of the mother if it’s an abortion by choice, over the potential life of the fetus,” said Dershowitz on the Oct. 13 CNBC Kudlow Report.(video at link)“Look, I think women, if they’re required to not have abortions could die and could — so I favor a woman’s right to choose....

Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz was on the receiving end of a blistering attack by Fox News Channel host Eric Bolling over the weekend during a heated argument over Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and the tactics he used to seek the defunding of the Affordable Care Act. “Do people actually pay,” Bolling asked, “to have you teach children?” In a segment on Fox News Channel’s Geraldo At Large on Saturday night, Dershowitz began by insisting that “health care is the best thing to happen to this country in my adult life.”finally, finally, we’re becoming a first world country,” he continued....

Freshman Sen. Ted Cruz, who has led the tea party wing of Republicans in Congress in their effort to defund Obamacare, is an intelligent and principled debater, says his old Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz. Appearing Tuesday on CNN's "Piers Morgan Live," Dershowitz called the Texas Republican "one of the sharpest students I had, in terms of analytic skills. I've had 10,000 students over my 50 years at Harvard . . . He has to qualify among the brightest of the students."

Angela Corey, the special prosecutor who struck out going after George Zimmerman, has not taken defeat well. At Red State, streiff catalogues her outrageous behavior in an article that should be read in its entirety: I think everyone can now agree on one thing, Angela Corey was possibly the worst possible choice for a high profile prosecution. She has a sense of entitlement that is so typical of small people promoted to jobs that are well above their level of competency but who lack the self-awareness to recognize what everyone else knows. (You need look no further than her bizarre...

MIKE HUCKABEE: You have said that you thought the prosecutor ought to be disbarred, that's a pretty serious type of violation to get a person disbarred. It is that serious to you? ALAN DERSHOWITZ: Right, it is. She submitted an affidavit that was, if not perjurious, completely misleading. She violated all kinds of rules of the profession, and her conduct bordered on criminal conduct. She, by the way, has a horrible reputation in Florida. She's known for overcharging, she's known for being highly political. And in this case, of course she overcharged. Halfway through the trial she realized she wasn't...

The verdict is in from Alan Dershowitz: if the renowned Harvard Law professor were on the jury hearing the George Zimmerman murder trial, he would find the defendant not guilty. "I would say there's reasonable doubt. I would say nobody knows who started the initial fight," Dershowitz told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV. "Remember, it's monumentally irrelevant who's morally guilty here." Zimmerman, who identifies himself as Hispanic, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teenager in Sanford, Fla. Zimmerman, a 29-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer for his community, says he shot Martin, 17,...

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted 22-17 on Friday that embattled IRS official Lois Lerner waived her Fifth Amendment rights during a hearing last month on the agency's tea party targeting scandal. The party-line vote paves the way for the committee to bring Lerner back to Congress and force her to answer questions from lawmakers...

Lois Lerner, the Internal Revenue Service’s embattled director of Exempt Organizations, could be held in contempt of court and jailed for refusing to testify before Congress, civil-rights lawyer Alan Dershowitz says. "She's in trouble. She can be held in contempt," Dershowitz told "the Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV. "Congress . . . can actually hold you in contempt and put you in the Congressional jail." Lerner, grilled Wednesday on the IRS' targeting of conservative organizations, invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination — but not before insisting "I have done nothing wrong." Her brief statement of innocence has opened...

Famed Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz ranks Sen. Ted Cruz among the school’s smartest students, adding that the Canada-born Texan can run for president in 2016. Cruz was a “terrific student,” Dershowitz told The Daily Caller. “He was always very active in class, presenting a libertarian point of view. He didn’t strike me as a social conservative, more of a libertarian.” “He had brilliant insights and he was clearly among the top students, as revealed by his class responses,” Dershowitz added. Dershowitz also gave a high estimate of Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren — who has decidedly different political...

There are two main reasons that many leftists who are viscerally supportive of Israel have difficulty understanding and defending the Jewish state today. First, the storyline about Israel is deeply distorted. For instance, this week, Freedom House released its annual report on press freedom around the world. Israel's ranking was reduced from "free" to "partly free." Freedom House gave three reasons for downgrading Israel's status: the prosecution of Haaretz reporter Uri Blau for holding stolen top-secret documents; Channel 10's difficulties getting its broadcast license renewed; and the success of the Israel Hayom newspaper. As Jonathan Tobin at Commentary noted Wednesday,...

Prof. Alan Dershowitz, appearing at the Jerusalem Post Conference in New York this week, spoke about his plan to restart the peace talks. Dershowitz, who has not official position in Israel, spoke to PA President Mahmoud Abbas and suggested a version of the Allon Plan of 1970. His suggestion for a "tripartite settlement freeze" was panned by Israel's Minister of International Affairs, Yuval Steinitz, as well as by former National Security Advisor to PM Netanyahu, Dr. Uzi Arad, who opposed "ulilateral concessions." AFSI's newly elected Chairman, Attorney Mark Langfan, sent an open letter to Prof. Dershowitz for posting in the...

His logic’s straightforward. It’s easy to prove that Tsarnaev did the deed but in order to prove that he’s a “terrorist” and therefore eligible for the death penalty, you have to also prove that his intent was to terrorize the population. And the only hard evidence of that might be his own statements — which will be inadmissible if a judge rules that the feds the “public safety” exception to Miranda doesn’t apply in this case. I must be missing something, though, because as I read the statute, I don’t see where the feds need to prove any specific terroristic...

Attorney Alan Dershowitz on Monday struck back at Robert Redford and other liberals for their seeming devotion to violent, homegrown activists. Appearing on NewsmaxTV's Steve Malzberg Show, Dershowitz said, "I don’t understand the way some people on the Left glorify American terrorists" (video follows with transcript and commentary):Dershowitz: 'I Don’t Understand the Way Some People on the Left Glorify American Terrorists' STEVE MALZBERG, HOST: Robert Redford before this bombing was on Good Morning America, and he made a movie about the Weather Underground, and he was specifically asked by George Stephanopoulos, “You were followers of them. You kind of rooted...

....I depart and return to Israel with a sense of sorrow and dismay. For many, Israel remains a focal point of their lives enriching their collective sense of responsibility and Jewish identity. For these American Jews their frustration has only been reinforced by Obama's reelection only to be followed by him turning his back towards those very American Jews aligned with the White House, those Jews who wholeheartedly supported Obama's reelection yet now find themselves unable to defend his latest betrayal. Two major supporters of Obama, former NY Mayor Ed Koch, a life long Democrat and Prof Alan Dershowitz have...

ALAN DERSHOWITZ: I don't think it's the NRA power. I think it's people like us, not the two of us, but Americans who care about guns aren't doing enough to make our case to the public. Because we think it's their issue. We've given that issue over to them because they have lobbyists they pay money. But in the end, the people determine the outcome. And it's wrong, and it's racist and it's bigoted to say that guns are quintessentially American. They may represent a part of America, but my grandparents who came over from poland and live in Brooklyn,...

Prof. Alan Dershowitz of Harvard Law School is a legendary defense lawyer, and the country's foremost pro-Israel advocate. He is also a steadfast supporter of President Barack Obama. Breitbart News spoke to him in an exclusive interview today about the nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) as Secretary of Defense.Sen. Hagel is controversial for his views on Israel, the Iraq War, Iran, and gays, among other issues. Dershowitz had, prior to Hagel's nomination, urged President Obama publicly not to appoint Hagel to the position.Breitbart News: Does the Hagel nomination represent a slap in the face to the pro-Israel community?Dershowitz:...

Even though Obamacare was decided months ago, pundits are still dissecting the court's actions. CNN's top legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin and famed lawyer and author Alan Dershowitz sat down on Friday at New York's 92nd Street Y to debate why Chief Justice John Roberts used his deciding vote to pass President Barack Obama's controversial health care law. And, according to Dershowitz, Roberts did it just so he could side with Republicans from now on without getting called out for being too conservative. "Roberts is very political," Dershowitz said in the interview, posted by Above The Law. "And what he did...

Florida prosecutor Angela Corey has come under withering criticism from Alan Dershowitz for overcharging and leaving out important details in the Affidavit of Probable Cause filed in connection with the charge of Second Degree Murder lodged against George Zimmerman. Corey allegedly responded by threatening to sue Dershowitz and Harvard. This appears to be part of a pattern when she is criticized. Now Corey has brought a charge of felony perjury against Zimmerman’s wife, Shellie, based on testimony during George’s bond hearing with regard to their financial resources. (Criminal Information and Affidavit of Probable Cause embedded at bottom of post.) There...