Alan Dershowitz ‘Shunned’ By Friends In Martha’s Vineyard For Defending Trump
Image by Getty Images
Lawyer Alan Dershowitz is afraid that America is growing increasingly intolerant toward opposing views. His proof, according to his recent op-ed in The Hill: Friends are ostracizing him in Martha’s Vineyard.
Dershowitz, an emeritus professor at Harvard Law School and frequent cable news talking head, maintains that he has defended President Trump’s civil liberties just as he would have defended Hillary Clinton’s had she been elected. Some his old friends in Martha’s Vineyard don’t see it that way, however; he said they are “shunning” him.
Some, he said, have demanded “trigger warnings” so they could move to “safe spaces” away from his ideas. Others said they will no longer contribute to organizations that sponsor his discussions.
“These childish efforts to shun me because I refused to change my position on civil liberties that I have kept for half a century discourages vibrant debate and may dissuade other civil libertarians from applying their neutral principles to a president of whom they disapprove,” he wrote.
He compared the situation to Congresswoman Maxine Waters encouraging her supporters to harass Trump’s Cabinet members wherever they find them, resulting in a situation such as when White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was booted out of the Red Hen restaurant.
“I intend to speak up when I disagree with Republicans, and I intend to speak up when I disagree with Democrats,” he concluded. “Right now I am speaking up in disagreement with Maxine Waters. She — like those who shun me on Martha’s Vineyard — is part of the problem rather than the solution.”
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
