The threat or fear of violence should not become an excuse or justification for restricting freedom of speech. Alan Dershowitz More Quotes by Alan Dershowitz More Quotes From Alan Dershowitz The Israeli military plays more than a critical role in defending the citizens of the Jewish state. It also plays an important social, scientific and psychological role in preparing its young citizens for the challenging task of being Israelis in a difficult world. Alan Dershowitz military challenges play I was critical of race-based affirmative action early on in my career and I've changed my mind. And I've publicly acknowledged that I was wrong. Alan Dershowitz careers race mind We have to fulfill what the real meaning of the Second Amendment is: reasonable access to guns for self-protection and for hunting. And there's no room in America for these semiautomatic, automatic and other kinds of weapons that are simply designed to cause mass havoc. Alan Dershowitz hunting gun real Most liberal democracies don't try to figure out what the truth is. Alan Dershowitz truth-is democracy trying Our First Amendment expresses a far different calculus for regulating speech than for regulating nonexpressive conduct and that is as it should be. The right to swing your fist should end at the tip of my nose, but your right to express your ideas should not necessarily end at the lobes of my ears. Alan Dershowitz swings liberty ideas Great research universities must insist on independence from government and on the exercise of academic freedom. Alan Dershowitz academic-freedom government exercise The very concept of an Iranian university is an oxymoron. There are no free and open places of learning in that repressive theocracy. Dissenters are not given tenure; they are murdered, after first being tortured. Blasphemy, which is broadly defined, is punished. Gays are not only excluded from Iranian universities, but are imprisoned and killed. Alan Dershowitz theocracy gay firsts I have no doubt that if an actual ticking bomb situation were to arise, our law enforcement authorities would torture. The real debate is whether such torture should take place outside of our legal system or within it. The answer to this seems clear: If we are to have torture, it should be authorized by the law. Alan Dershowitz real doubt law Censorship laws are blunt instruments, not sharp scalpels. Once enacted, they are easily misapplied to merely unpopular or only marginally dangerous speech. Alan Dershowitz censorship freedom-of-speech law I read in the newspaper that the Catholic Church finally decided that it had been theologically improper to try to convert the Jews. Whoops! Sorry for all those inquisitions, crusades, and autos-da-fe. Previous popes were wrong - infallible, perhaps, but wrong. Alan Dershowitz catholic sorry religion 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. Alan Dershowitz accountability justice numbers Israel and the Palestinians must resolve their own differences. The United States can play an important role as facilitator and guarantor. Alan Dershowitz differences israel play If you're a prosecutor, and you believe the defendant is guilty, you only talk about ultimate truth, but not intermediate truth. If you're the defense attorney, you care deeply about intermediate truth, but you tend to neglect ultimate truth. Alan Dershowitz defense care believe Well, first of all, no professor should be able to say, I refuse to defend my position. I refuse to debate my position. Alan Dershowitz debate able firsts A good lawyer knows how to shut up when he's won his case. Alan Dershowitz shut-up lawyer cases Question authority; but, raise your hand first. Alan Dershowitz learning hands firsts We, the People of this country, have no unalienable rights... all our rights are subject to modification... the Constitution of the United States of America is nothing more than a piece of paper and... our government should not be restrained by the Constitution because our government can do good things for people. Alan Dershowitz government rights country Let no one ever shy away from the claim that Jews have power, that Jews have influence. We have learned the terrible lesson of history; that unless we have influence and power, disproportionate to our small numbers - immoral results will occur. We need power. And we must continue to use our power. Power which we earned, power which no one gave us on a silver platter, power which we worked hard for - use that power in the interests of justice. Alan Dershowitz influence-and-power small-numbers silver-platter There is no perfect justice, just as there is no absolute in ethics. Alan Dershowitz ethics perfect justice Any human being has private thoughts. Alan Dershowitz human-beings humans
