An Attorney's ‘Shabby' Attempt To Pin Pollard Blame

Alan Dershowitz - The Forward (NY) - March 1, 2001

The following rebuttal of Joseph diGenova's disingenuous comments about why Jonathan Pollard was denied clemency by President Clinton appeared as a letter to the editor in the Forward (NY) (03/01/01):

In his interview with the Forward concerning his representation of Marc Rich's lawyer ("Israel's Role in Pardon Sparks Capital Feuding," February 16), Joseph diGenova took a gratuitous slap at me as well as the other lawyers who have bene seeking justice for Jonathan Pollard. Mr. DiGenova said that the reason Pollard did not receive a pardon was that "it is clear that Pollard's people did not give enough money to the (Democratic National Committee) or the president, and that they had the wrong lawyer, Alan Dershowitz." This was a shabby attempt to conceal the real reason Pollard remains in prison: because Mr. DiGenova, who prosecuted Pollard, submitted a false affidavit by Caspar Weinberger (himself pardoned for lying to Congress) and continues to misstate the facts about Pollard's case. Mr. DiGenova had previously invoked the dual loyalty canard, suggesting that a Jew who spied for Israel deserved greater punishment than someone who spied for the Soviet Union, since Jews need greater deterrence because of their loyalty to the Jewish state.

Mr. DiGenova also seems to place his hatred for Pollard, President Clinton and me above his duty to his clients by suggesting that Pollard did not get the pardon because his "people" didn't give enough money or pick the right lawyer. Mr. DeGenova implies that Mr. Rich got his pardon for those reasons - a claim that Mr. Rich's lawyer, who is Mr. DiGenova's client, vociferously denies. Mr. DeGenova's conception of law is that it is who you know, rather than what you know, that wins the case. That is not the way I practice law, and it is not the reason clients seek me out.

Alan M. Dershowitz
Cambridge, Mass.

Justice4JP Note: In the United States Jonathan Pollard is represented by Eliot Lauer and Jacques Semmelman of New York. In Israel Jonathan Pollard is represented by Larry Dub and Baruch Ben-Yosef of Jerusalem. Kenneth Lasson, Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore, is of counsel to Jonathan Pollard and is currently co-ordinating the amici briefs for the two legal initiatives currently before the courts. Alan Dershowitz, previously of counsel to Jonathan Pollard, has no current involvement in the case.

• See Also: The Clemency Page

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