Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz has predicted a successful outcome for the Trump administration in its lawsuit with Harvard University over student visas. In an interview with Newsmax on Thursday, Dershowitz said the Trump administration would win “the ultimate battle.”
Harvard filed suit against the Trump administration for revoking the school’s student visa program when Harvard failed to comply with records requests from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Harvard alleged in its filing that the actions of the Trump administration were in violation of the First Amendment.
“In the end, Harvard will lose,” Dershowitz said. “They’re getting very bad advice from some of the law school faculty who are on the left who wish that the Trump administration would lose.”
A temporary restraining order was issued against the Trump administration while the case plays out in court. Although Dershowitz acknowledged there would be legal setbacks, he stated his belief that the Trump administration would ultimately prevail in the case.
Dershowitz also shared his opinion that Harvard would not win the case on the basis of its First Amendment rationale.
“Nobody has a First Amendment right to come into the country, to trash America, to oppose Israel, to block students from going to classes,” Dershowitz said.
Dershowitz went on to criticize free speech double standards displayed by Harvard, saying he was no longer welcome there since he had shown support for Trump.
“I used to get 900 students in my classes, thousands of people coming to my lectures but since I defended Donald Trump on constitutional grounds, I’m persona non-grata,” Dershowitz said. “Because I defended Trump, they’re not interested in hearing me. They wouldn’t be interested in hearing the Lincoln-Douglas debates at Harvard these days.”
Dershowitz also characterized the school as a left-wing ideological stronghold, particularly among faculty members.
“We’re talking about a school that has ideological uniformity and very little diversity of points of view among the faculty, among the administration. There’s more among the students, but not nearly enough,” Dershowitz said.