To the Harvard Law Record:
I see that the controversy swirling around HLS Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz, and the sensational allegations made in legal papers filed in federal court in Miami, continue unabated, nationally and in the pages and the on-line site of the Harvard Law Record. I had hoped that my comments (published in your print edition of March 12th) would be the last that I would have to say on the matter, but I feel compelled now to make two additional points which must be borne in mind by those who are demanding that Dershowitz disclose the documentary evidence that he has said he possesses that would put the lie to the allegations of his involvement in abuse of an underage girl (now a 31-year old adult).
I have known Professor Dershowitz since his and my arrival at HLS in 1964 – he as professor, I as student. I believe Dershowitz when he says that he has documentary evidence to demonstrate that he was not, and could not have been, present at certain locations at times when the complaint alleges sexual abuse in which Dershowitz participated. I also know that Dershowitz is not dumb nor gullible enough to turn that evidence over to anyone, including his critics and the news media, unless and until his accuser and her lawyers have specified, under oath, the times and places of the alleged abuse. Why? Because, as any litigator knows, it is par-for-the-course for an accuser to make his or her accusations under oath in the first instance, and for the accused to follow with his own under-oath defenses, so that the accuser is not given the luxury of seeing the defense documents first and thus being enabled to construct detailed accusations around those documents. I have checked this with Professor Dershowitz, and he assures me that he will produce his documentation as soon as his accuser and her lawyers have been pinned down as to the times and places of the alleged abuse. I’ve known and worked with Professor Dershowitz long enough to know that he can account for his activities and his presence for virtually every day of his professional life. I used to laugh at what I considered his obsessive recording of his life, but now it’s no laughing matter, and quite fortunate that he did so.
I suggest that those who have chosen to credit the allegations against Professor Dershowitz hold their fire until the record has been made. Law students and lawyers, in particular, should be sensitive not only to the demands of Due Process of Law, but also to the aphorism, familiar to most practicing lawyers, that facts are stubborn things. As the late Harvard professor (and later United States Senator) Daniel Patrick Moynihan reminded us, everyone is entitled to his or her opinions, but not to his or her facts.
Sincerely,
Harvey A. Silverglate
Editor’s Note: Harvey A. Silverglate graduated from Harvard Law School in 1967. He is co-founder of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and is a prolific author and legal scholar.