Dershowitz Claims Role of Public Intellectual

Frankfurter Professor of Law Alan M. Dershowitz has spent much of his career in the spotlight defending some of the most controversial and famous figures of a generation, including O.J. Simpson, accused murderer Claus von Bulow, junk-bond king Michael Milken, and John Lennon.

Most recently, he has agreed to serve as an ‘objective expert’ for the legal team handling the appeal of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of bombing Pan Am flight 103 in 1988.

His involvement with the Al-Megrahi case was decried by some even before the events of Sept. 11. Now, Dershowitz says he only expects more criticism.

His critics allege that Dershowitz embroils himself with such controverial figures out of a need for the limelight.

“Drawn to the camera and the microphone like a moth to a flame,” is the description given Dershowitz by The Washington Post’s Jonathan Yardley. This was in December, as Dershowitz plunged into the presidential election scandal representing voters in Palm Beach County, Florida—before he became involved in the Al-Megrahi case.

Dershowitz characterizes his attraction to the media differently.

It goes back to the original meaning of Dershowitz, he says. The name comes from the Hebrew root ‘darshow,’—“an iternerant teacher traveling around teaching to whoever would listen.”

The man who has carved a reputation as the most famous defender of individual rights says that all his work has filled this role of darshow.

“I see all my roles as teaching—T.V., books, cases, and classes,” he said.

Dershowitz’s definition of teaching is broad, for he considers himself not only an Harvard Law School (HLS) professor but a “public intellectual” who says appearing on T.V. helps him educate the public about important issues such as civil liberties.

Dershowitz also doesn’t resist the opportunity to jab back at those who attack him for his TV appearances.

“The criticism comes mostly from other professors who wish they were asked to be on TV more,” Dershowitz says.

Dershowitz’s off campus endeavors may even enhance his HLS teaching, according to second year HLS student Naomi E. Klein, who will take his course “Tactics and Ethics in Crime and Litigation” in the spring.

“From what I’ve heard around campus people seem to be really excited to take his classes because of his reputation and the projects he’s been involved in,” she said. “No one has ever alluded to me that these projects take him away from his teaching responsibilities.”

On Call At HLS

There are few intellectual battles that Dershowitz can stay away from, and when debate surrounding U.S. response to the Sept. 11 terrorIst attacks arose, Dershowitz immediately made himself available.

He called the Justice Department to let the agency know he would keep his phone lines clear to help the department consider the implications for civil liberties of any U.S. response to the terrorist attacks.

But as talk of increasing federal policing and wiretapping authority concerns many Americans, Dershowitz, is surprisingly optimistic.

“Even in the face of this, we haven’t seen the calls for dismissal of civil liberties that we did years ago,” he said, referring to when Japanese-Americans were rounded up in detainment camps around the country in response to the atttack on Pearl Harbor.

But still, he says, vigilance is needed.

Dershowitz has urged the government to involve civil libertarians in whatever decision they make that might alter civil liberties. He has also advocated a “sunset provision” on any changes to civil liberties that may occur—meaning that changes would be eliminated after a certain amount of time so there is no “permanent diminution” of civil liberties.

It’s not wrong from a civil liberties perspective—or any perspective— according to Dershowitz, to go after bin Laden without a trial, but once the terrorist is caught, Dershowitz says providing him a fair trial is the nation’s patriotic duty.

“We’d have to prove his specific guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” Dershowitz says. “Whoever defends him would be engaging in an act of high patriotism.”

The patriotism of the lawyer who upholds the sixth amemdment and rigorously defends Bin Laden would be “akin to that of the firefighters and policement in New York City,” Dershowitz says.

Picking His Cases

Dershowitz has devoted himself to protecting the civil liberties of even the most unsavory individuals, including Al-Megrahi.

His defense of such unpopular clients lead one National Review correspondent to write, “We won’t know for sure whether Gary Condit is guilty until Alan Dershowitz defends him.”

Dershowitz has always drawn flack for the clients he defends, but that has never seemed to deterred him.

The Wall Street Journal editorial page, a strong conservative influence, scorned Dershowitz and questioned his patriotism for involving himself with the Al-Megrahi case.

Criticism, however, only strengthens his resolve.

“If we go after the wrong person, that means the right people are still out there doing it,” Dershowitz says.

He notes that because of disputed evidence in the case, the United Nations monitor for the trial as well as many family members of the victims questioned whether Al-Megrahi was really the bomber.

Much of the hoopla that usually ensues each time Dershowitz announces his next case clouds what he says are rigid guidelines he follows in choosing his clients, a task which he says is, “the hardest thing I do.”

Dershowitz says that out of the 5,000 requests he gets each year, he only chooses cases that arouse his sense of justice. After all, he says, he is a teacher trying to educate the public in the ways of justice and individual liberty, and that heavily influences what cases he decides to tackle.

“I have to get pissed off,” he says. “I have to feel that there is an injustice and I can do something about it.”

And he usually is able to do something about it.

After all, he is a former basketball player for the Brooklyn Yeshiva Academy high school team, who once played in Madison Square Garden, and Dershowitz loves to win.

“You can’t just throw a case. Trying your hardest to win is a Constitutional duty,” he says.

To a journalist attacking Dershowitz for his “nearly pathological need to have the last word,” Dershowitz responded in his typical combative approach, which has been described as “intellectual flying kicks and sharp elbows that batter any adversary into submission.”

“I don’t know anyone who doesn’t want to have the last word,” Dershowitz says.

After many high-profile years as an attorney and more than a few shocking victories, Dershowitz still says the highlight of his career is teaching at Harvard Law School.

“Seeing my students over 38 years and what great successes some of them have become is the greatest satisfaction for me,” Dershowitz says. “I guess I’m just trying to live up to my family name.”

—Staff writer William M. Rasmussen can be reached at wrasmuss@fas.harvard.edu.