Title: Taking the stand : my life in the law /
Authors: Dershowitz, Alan M.
Publisher: Crown Publishers,
Year: 2013
Subjects: Dershowitz, Alan M.; Freedom of speech United States Cases; Lawyers United States Biography; Jewish lawyers United States Biography.; Law teachers United States Biography.; Capital punishment United States Cases.
Abstract: Alan Dershowitz has been called the "winningest appellate criminal defense lawyer in history." He has led or been part of the defense team for such storied clients as Bill Clinton, Julian Assange, O.J. Simpson, Claus von Bülow, Mia Farrow, Jeffrey MacDonald, Patty Hearst, Mike Tyson, and many more. Here, for the first time, Dershowitz writes about his evolution as a lawyer--how within a few short years he changed from a C-minus student in Yeshiva High School to become the youngest full professor in the history of Harvard Law School. He describes his formative years as a clerk for the United States Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. He discusses the evolution of his thinking over the years as he tackles the subtleties of censorship and the limits of First Amendment law, the ongoing tension between individual freedom and national security, the evolution of civil rights, and why the abortion rights debate hasn't moved forward since Roe v. Wade. Filled with unforgettable cases and vignettes, Taking the Stand is a deeply personal account of one of the legendary legal minds of our time.--From publisher description.
Contents: Born and religiously educated in Brooklyn -- My secular education -- Brooklyn and Yale -- My clerkships Judge Bazelon and Justice Goldberg -- Beginning my life as an academic -- Harvard Law School -- The evolution of the First Amendment -- new meanings for cherished words -- Direct and vicarious "offensiveness" of obscenity -- Disclosure of secrets -- Expressions that incite violence and disrupt speakers -- The right to falsify history and science: Holocaust denial, space aliens, and academic freedom -- Defamation and privacy: "he that filches from me my good name" -- Speech that supports terrorist groups -- Life intrudes on law -- "Death is different:" challenging capital punishment -- The death penalty for those who don't kill: Ricky and Raymond Tison -- Using science, law, logic and experience to disprove murder -- Death, politics, religion, and international intrigue -- Death cases from the classroom to the courtroom and from the courtroom to the classroom -- The changing politics of rape -- The changing face of race: from color blindness to race-specific remedies -- From human rights to human wrongs -- how the hard left hijacked the human rights agenda.