[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 141 (Tuesday, November 18, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6085-S6086]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO ALAN DERSHOWITZ

 Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I would like to take a moment to 
honor a great teacher today.
  His name is Alan Dershowitz. For half a century he was a professor at 
the Harvard Law School. He retired in December of 2013.
  From all those students who were so fortunate to learn from him, 
including myself, let us say thank you.
  Professor Dershowitz joined Harvard Law in 1964--at the tender age of 
25--and during his time there, he trained more than 10,000 students in 
more than 100 semesters to be critical thinkers, lawyers, judges, and 
leaders.
  Aside from being an incredible teacher, he is known as many things: 
advocate, columnist, novelist, and intellectual.
  He is a passionate liberal, and yet he pressed all his students--
conservative and liberal alike--to make the very best arguments they 
could, based on logic, reason, and precedent.
  Like Professor Kingsbury in ``The Paper Chase,'' he didn't suffer 
fools. If you couldn't back up your position in his class, if you 
emoted rather than reasoned, you were in trouble.
  He and I became friends, ironically, because we disagreed so much. In 
class, he would offer withering critiques of opinions authored by 
conservative Justices, Scalia and Thomas especially, and I was often 
moved to disagree. Heated arguments followed, which Professor 
Dershowitz always seemed to relish.

[[Page S6086]]

  I am grateful for his patience and indulgence. As with countless law 
students before and after, Professor Dershowitz made me a much better 
lawyer.
  He didn't just teach; he also practiced, in trial courts and the 
Supreme Court, taking on ``impossible'' cases and winning one after 
another. Truly, it was a privilege to learn from someone practicing at 
the very top of his field.
  Although a man of the left, he did not shy away from disagreeing with 
his liberal colleagues when principle compelled it. A passionate 
advocate for free speech, he fearlessly took on the political 
correctness of campus speech codes. No conformist, he.
  And there has been no fiercer advocate for Israel. His passion, his 
persuasiveness, his willingness to take on all comers, has made him an 
incomparable voice for the Jewish State.
  Professor Dershowitz is an intellectual powerhorse who could have 
done anything in his life, and he made the deliberate decision to 
teach. He chose to share his brilliance and pass it on. He chose to 
invest in the future of others instead of only himself.
  I am so grateful that I could be among the thousands of students 
Professor Dershowitz taught. He has made and continues to make a real 
difference.
  Courage and principle are rare today. Professor Dershowitz has them 
both.

                          ____________________