Dershowitz: Rehnquist a "Republican thug"

Man, you complement a guy, and a few hours later the complement-ee (scroll down two posts) does something goofy. I'm talking about Alan Dershowitz. This is from--a far as I can know--an unprecedented Sunday edition of Wall Street Journal 's "Best of the Web."

This is a partial transcript, cf Dershowitz' 1:50 AM EDT appearance on a very late night special edition of Fox News "Hannity & Colmes."

Dershowitz: (Chief Justice Rehnquist) was much more activist. And I think the Rehnquist court was never the Rehnquist court. He moved more toward the center as he became chief justice and as he had Scalia and Thomas on his right flank and of course most of the rest of the court in the center or on his left flank. It--the decisions of Justice Rehnquist are not taught in law schools as great decisions. He'll be remembered primarily for his votes rather than for the content or quality of his decisions. And it's consistent throughout his life. He started his career by being a kind of Republican thug who pushed and shoved to keep African-American and Hispanic voters from voting.

Sean Hannity: All right--

Dershowitz: He had a restrictive covenant in his own lease which precluded the sale to Jews.

Hannity: Let me go, uh--

Dershowitz: There were so many things in his background that were extremely right-wing.

There are varying levels of truth in Dershowitz' statements. He's hardly alone in the belief that the Rehnquist court was a body he presided over rather than a court in which Rehnquist himself was the driving force during his reign as Chief Justice.

The stuff Dershowitz brought up about the "No Jews" lease covenant and his, well, alleged poll challenging of Blacks and Hispanics took all took place in the 1950s.

The covenant is fact--it happened, but these contract riders on home mortgages and leases were common, often standard, until being outlawed in the 1960s.

Let's say the "poll challenging" accusation is true. At that time, the late Chief Justice was about the same age Democratic Senator Robert Byrd when "Sheets" was a Kleagle in the Ku Klux Klan.
Besides, Professor Alan, people change over the years. Often for the better.

I'm going to give Dersh a bit of a break, considering the late hour. I'm usually asleep at 1:50 AM--I'm not mentally or physically productive at that late hour, and it's safe to say, neither is Professor Dershowitz. But Alan should've had the good judgment to temper his emotions considering the late hour. Or decline the "Hannity & Colmes" interview request.

And as the "Best of the Web" pointed out, such vitriolic attacks against someone who died only four hours earlier are in bad taste.

But thanks once again, Alan, for your assistance in the Klocek case. And keep the heat on DePaul University's Norman Finkelstein.