In representing criminal defendants - especially guilty ones - it is often necessary to take the offensive against the government: to put the government on trial for its misconduct. In law, as in sports, the best defense is often a… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
I don't think the law exists to arrive at the truth. If it did, we wouldn't have exclusionary rules, we wouldn't have presumptions of innocence, we wouldn't have proof beyond reasonable doubt. There's an enormous difference between the role of… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
There is no perfect justice, just as there is no absolute in ethics. But there is perfect injustice, and we know it when we… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
A criminal trial is never about seeking justice for the victim. If it were, there could be only one verdict: guilty. — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
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… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
Our First Amendment expresses a far different calculus for regulating speech than for regulating nonexpressive conduct and that is as it should be. The… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
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,… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
Asymmetrical warfare is a euphemism for terrorism, just like collateral damage is a euphemism for killing innocent civilians. — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
I never had an existential moment when I asked myself what I was going to do. I always wanted to be a lawyer, and… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
It's a new phenomenon in America that states can now sue the national government and become a kind of check and balance on the… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
When it comes to partisan politics, everyone is a hypocrite. And all they care about is whether it hurts or helps them ... Is… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
