WE'VE BEEN THERE – AT 12:28 P.M. ET:  Have you ever felt a chill when some people find out you're conservative, or even moderate, or even a thoughtful liberal rather than the usual kind?

We've all been there.  We can feel ourselves being cut from e-mail lists.  And invitation lists.  Even the PTA might not let us know when the next meeting is.

Alan Dershowitz, the legendary law professor from Harvard, and a committed liberal, is going through the process, and he writes about it.  I think many readers will recognize his ordeal.  From the Washington Examiner: 

Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz says he’s feeling the heat from family and friends over his defense of President Trump amid special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

“It’s caused me to lose seven pounds,” Dershowitz told Politico. “My liberal friends don’t invite me to dinner anymore.”

Dershowitz often appears on Fox News to argue against Mueller bringing an obstruction of justice charge against Trump, saying it would send the country into a constitutional crisis. He has also defended Trump’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey.

“My really, really close friends say, ‘You’re 100 percent right in your analysis, but can’t you just shut the hell up and not talk at all,’” he said. “They tell me, ‘This is a time for selective silence.’

My nephew thinks I’m helping keep in office one of the greatest dangers in American history. I tell him I’m just standing up for principle. He tells me that I don’t have to stand up so loud.”

Dershowitz added that his family is no longer proud to be associated with him.

“I was a source of pride to my kids, my grandkids,” he said. “Now it’s ‘Oy, he’s related to Alan Dershowitz.’ That hurts me a little bit.”

Yet Dershowitz said he’s “happy with the role I’m playing.”

“I think I’ve changed the debate on the subject of obstruction of justice,” he said.

COMMENT:  And that's what great lawyers do. 

December 27, 2017