Explore Quotes by Alan Dershowitz

The threat or fear of violence should not become an excuse or justification for restricting freedom of speech.

Great research universities must insist on independence from government and on the exercise of academic freedom.

No country in the history of the world has ever contributed more to humankind and accomplished more for its people in so brief a period of time as Israel has done since its relatively recent rebirth in 1948.

I think that lawyers are terrible at admitting that they're wrong. And not just admitting it; also realizing it. Most lawyers are very successful, and they think that because they're making money and people think well of them, they must be doing everything right.

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.

There's no evidence that I'm aware of that guns protect liberty.

When you discriminate against anyone, you discriminate against everyone. It's a display of terrible intolerance.

Well, many insane people and seriously mentally ill people seem very reasonable.

The court of last resort is no longer the Supreme Court. It's 'Nightline.'

Candor and accountability in a democracy is very important. Hypocrisy has no place.

Judges are the weakest link in our system of justice and they are also the most protected.

The vast majority of gun owners don't kill, but people who do kill, tend to kill with guns, and often with illegal guns.

Hypocrisy is not a way of getting back to the moral high ground. Pretending you're moral, saying your moral is not the same as acting morally.

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.

Question authority; but, raise your hand first.

This is not about celebrity justice, this is about the rights of the children.

Israel and the Palestinians must resolve their own differences. The United States can play an important role as facilitator and guarantor.

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.

The first rule for escaping prison in the United States is always having someone more important than yourself to incriminate.

There’s simply nothing in there that would justify second degree murder.

Though Israel may often be deserving of criticism, what is missing is the comparable criticism of equal or greater violations by other countries and other groups. This constant, often legitimate criticism of Israel for every one of its deviations, when coupled with the absence of legitimate criticism of others, creates the impression currently prevalent on university campuses and in the press that Israel is among the worst human rights violators in the world....it is not true, but if it is repeated often enough, it takes on a reality of its own.