Civil liberties legal expert Alan Dershowitz vowed on Newsmax to defend nonviolent protests at school board meetings after Biden administration Attorney General Merrick Garland mobilized the FBI and U.S. attorneys to "investigate and prosecute" school board protests.
"I'll defend anybody who is chilled in their free speech," Dershowitz told "Saturday Report," denouncing the politicization of the ACLU. "Anybody who wants to protest at school boards and is going to do it nonviolently, can count on me.
"It used to be we were able to count on the American Civil Liberties Union, but they're dead in the water when it comes to issues like this. They ought to be protesting this as well."
While there have been some threats of violence at local school board meetings, Garland should "pull back" on his memo this week threatening to investigate and prosecute school board meeting protests by parents.
"There have been some threats of violence, but not enough to, in my view, justify the extreme measure of sending letters out and calling for FBI investigations," Dershowitz told host Carl Higbie. "So, I think the attorney general – who I generally like and admire – ought to pull back and ought to leave it to local authorities, unless they can make a very strong case of violent denial of civil liberties."
Dershowitz, who has self-described himself as an avowed "liberal Democrat" in past Newsmax appearances, came out strongly against race-based teaching in schools, calling it "propaganda" and protests of it should not be considered "domestic terrorism" as some groups have attempted to argue.
"We all think the attorney general should have the right to prevent violence if it's in violation of civil rights; on the other hand, protests about Black Lives Matters, if I had a kid in school, I'd be among the protesters. Black Lives Matter, critical legal studies shouldn't be taught in school," Dershowitz said.
"Critical race theory is anything but critical. It's uncritical of anything that has to do with racial theory and it's propaganda. And I would be among the protesters and I would be vociferous in expressing my views on propagandizing my children, and I'm certainly not a terrorist."
Dershowitz added Garland "in perception, at least, he's gone over the line" in mobilizing the federal Justice Department to investigate local crimes and protests.
Dershowitz made a final note, as he often does, his legal opinions are not necessarily a reflection of his personal or political views.
"My job as a First Amendment civil libertarian is to defend the views of people I despise –defend the views that I disagree with," Dershowitz concluded. "So, I will defend the views of people who say some of the most absurd things because once you can censor absurd things, you can then move on to censor more rational things."
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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