alan-dershowitz Quotes About ifs

“Look, I don't know whether God exists. I don't know that. And I tell you one thing, I am not frightened of my beliefs. If there is a God who is threatening me with damnation because I don't believe in Him, so be it. I've lived my life in conscience, and I will suffer damnation willingly in conscience against a tyrannical God who would damn me because, on the basis of the intelligence He gave me, I have come to a conclusion doubting His existence, and I will continue to be a skeptic all of my life.”

“If we move away from the American tradition of lawyers defending those with whom they vehemently disagree -- as we temporarily did during the McCarthy period -- we weaken our commitment to the rule of law... So beware of an approach which limits advocacy to that which is approved by the standards of political correctness.”

Source: Letters to a Young Lawer (Easyread Large Edition)

“All speech should be presumed to be protected by the Constitution, and a heavy burden should be placed on those who would censor to demonstrate with relative certainty that the speech at issue, if not censored, would lead to irremediable and immediate serious harm.”

Ifs Should Issues Serious Speech Constitution Burden Heavy Harm Certainty Relative Protected Free Speech Freedom Of Speech Censored Heavy Burdens

Book:Finding, Framing, and Hanging Jefferson: A Lost Letter, a Remarkable Discovery, and Freedom of Speech in an Age of Terrorism

Source: Finding, Framing, and Hanging Jefferson: A Lost Letter, a Remarkable Discovery, and Freedom of Speech in an Age of Terrorism

“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.”

Ifs Should Real Seems Law Answers Situation Clear Doubt Authority Debate Arise Torture No Doubt Bombs Law Enforcement Enforcement Legal System

Author:Alan Dershowitz

“The plain message conveyed by the new administration is that George W Bush's America is a Christian nation, and that non-Christians are welcome into the tent so long as they agree to accept their status as a tolerated minority rather than as fully equal citizens. In effect, Bush is saying: "This is our home, and in our home we pray to Jesus as our savior. If you want to be a guest in our home, you must accept the way we pray."”

“Such technological tools ... are helping us now in the hot war against terrorists who would bomb this theater if they had the capacity to do so.”

Ifs War Helping Capacity Tools Theater Hot Terrorist Bombs Technological Nsa

Author:Alan Dershowitz

“To ask about the 'source' of rights or morals assumes an erreous conclusion. To ask about the source of morals is to assume that such a source exists. As if it existed outside of human constructed systems. The 'source' is the human ability to learn from experience and to entrench rights in our laws and in our consciousness. Our rights come from our long history of wrongs.”

Ifs Humans Long Law Asks Ability Consciousness Moral Rights Source Assuming Conclusion Learning Experience

Author:Alan Dershowitz

“When the Jews were being persecuted by the Nazis in 1944 we passed the War Refugee Act, which focused on rescuing Jews, a religious group. But if the religious group is the subject of the persecution based on their religion, it's perfectly OK for a First Amendment-bound society to emphasize their rescue, just as it is perfectly OK to emphasize the fact that many, if not all of the perpetrators of Islamic terrorism, come from countries with a history of supporting terrorism.”

“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.”

“Everybody says they're opposed to torture. But everyone would do it personally if they knew it could save the life of a kidnapped child who had only two hours of oxygen left before death. And it would be the right thing to do.”

Ifs Children Two Would Be Left Hours Things To Do Right Thing Torture Oxygen Kidnapped Before Death

Author:Alan Dershowitz

“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.”

“A criminal trial is never about seeking justice for the victim. If it were, there could be only one verdict: guilty.”

Ifs Justice Victim Seeking Criminals Trials Guilty Verdict

Author:Alan Dershowitz

“If America has the right to target Osama bin Laden, or terrorists, of course Israel has the right to defend itself from terrorism.”

Ifs America Courses Israel Terrorism Terrorist Target Bin Laden Osama Bin Laden

Author:Alan Dershowitz

“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.”

Ifs Believe Care Ultimate Defense Guilty Neglect Attorney Prosecutor Ultimate Truth Defense Attorneys

Author:Alan Dershowitz

“I believe that if Israel were to put an end to the settlements in the West Bank tomorrow, as it did in Gaza, there would still be reluctance on the part of the Palestinian Authority to recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish secular democracy.”

Ifs Believe Stills Ends I Believe Democracy Tomorrow Authority West Israel Palestinian Secular Settlement Gaza Reluctance

Author:Alan Dershowitz

“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. 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.”

Ifs Thinking Looks I Can Mother Dies Choices Constitution Favors Abortion Convenience Fetus

Author:Alan Dershowitz

“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 truth in law and the role of truth in science. In law, truth is one among many goals.”

Ifs Thinking Law Goal Differences Roles Doubt Truth Is Proof Enormous Innocence Reasonable In-laws Presumption Reasonable Doubt Presumption Of Innocence Beyond A Reasonable Doubt

Author:Alan Dershowitz

“I generally don't select my chicken or my hamburgers based on the personal ideology of the person who is either flipping the hamburgers or making the money back at corporate headquarters. But if people want to do that, they're free to do it.”

People Ifs Want Persons Ideology Corporate Chickens Select Hamburgers Headquarters

Author:Alan Dershowitz

“I never place limits on the potential success of my students. If they're going into acting, they're going to win the Oscar... If they're going into law, they're going to be chief justice.”

Ifs Law Winning Justice Acting Students Limits Chiefs Oscars Chief Justice

Author:Alan Dershowitz

“I tell my students, if you ever become comfortable with your role as criminal defense lawyer, it's time to quit. It should be a constant source of discomfort, because you're dealing with incredible moral ambiguity, and you've been cast into a role which is not enviable.”

Ifs Should Moral Roles Students Source Comfortable Constant Incredibles Casts Defense Criminals Lawyer Quitting Discomfort Ambiguity Moral Ambiguity Criminal Defense

Author:Alan Dershowitz

“In the Pentagon Papers case, the government asserted in the Supreme Court that the publication of the material was a threat to national security. It turned out it was not a threat to U.S. security. But even if it had been, that doesn't mean that it couldn't be published.”

Ifs Mean Government Cases Security Materials Paper Court Threat Supreme Supreme Court National Security Papers Publication Pentagon

Author:Alan Dershowitz

“There will never be another Ed Koch. He was an original, but he represented a significant, if shrinking, segment of American Jewry who refused to compromise their liberal values, their support for Israel or their Jewish pride.”

Ifs Values Support Pride Originals Israel Significant Compromise Shrinking

Author:Alan Dershowitz

“Twenty five percent of Israeli citizens are not even Jewish. Anybody can become an Israeli citizen if you qualify. Religion is not a criterion for citizenship.”

Ifs Five Citizens Percent Twenties Citizenship Criteria Israeli Twenty Five

Author:Alan Dershowitz

“What the United States has to do is send a clear message to Iran that they will not be able to develop nuclear weapons. Why endure the difficulty of sanctions if they are not going to be able to develop nuclear weapons anyway?”

Ifs States Able United United States Clear Messages Weapons Difficulty Endure Nuclear Iran Nuclear Weapons Sanctions

Author:Alan Dershowitz

“When I was growing up, my mother would always say, 'It will go on your permanent record.' There was no 'permanent record.' If there were a 'permanent record,' I'd never be able to be a lawyer. I was such a bum, in elementary school and high school... There is a permanent record today and it's called the Internet.”

Ifs Today Able School Mother Growing Up Records Growing Goes On Internet High School Lawyer Permanent Elementary School

Author:Alan Dershowitz

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