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Alan Dershowitz’s library beef in Martha’s Vineyard comes overdue
A VIP beef over a Martha’s Vineyard library is overdue.
Controversial Donald Trump attorney Alan Dershowitz has been locked in a heated battle with a local library on tony Martha’s Vineyard, and upscale residents are taking sides.
The brouhaha gripping the exclusive Massachusetts island is over the famed Harvard defense lawyer’s talk this month at the Chilmark library to promote his new book.
The Dersh was initially turned down by the library a year ago to appear as part of its annual speaker series.
Things then escalated when he publicly threatened to sue, alleging the library violated his First Amendment rights.
A source told us Dershowitz “used to be” a popular draw at the library’s speaker series, but, “as soon as he defended Trump, that stopped… he was canceled.”
Dershowitz — a Vineyard regular who was once known for letting it all hang out on one of the island’s nude beaches — has widely said his social status on the island nose-dived when he repped Trump in his presidential impeachment trial.
One fancy resident who a source tells us did not want Dershowitz as a speaker is Laurie David, the noted Hollywood liberal activist and ex-wife of “Seinfeld” mogul Larry David.
We reported in 2021 that Dershowitz and Larry David got into a “screaming” match over politics at a Martha’s Vineyard store. When Larry told Dersh, “You’re disgusting!” the lawyer showed off a T-shirt that read, ‘It’s The Constitution Stupid!’”
A local report in the Martha’s Vineyard Times on the controversy said the Chilmark library denied any discrimination against Dershowitz, and said they were simply concerned about crowd control — plus his request to speak was too late.
The library wound up voting to let him speak on June 20, a day the library is closed, and with a cap of 25 guests.
The board’s minutes on the Dershowitz decision reportedly read: “There was intense debate about having him speak after the bullying, intimidation, and lies that were said by him about the library to the national media last summer… It was decided that he will be offered a spot to speak on… a day that the library is closed. This will cut down on the interference his talk may cause to regular patrons.”
Laurie was not mentioned at all in the MV Times piece, but she did seem to leave a comment on its web article about Dershowitz’s upcoming appearance.
Said a comment under her name, “Clearly the lesson the Chilmark Free Public Library board of trustees is conveying to the public is that bullying works. Threatening to sue, defaming a librarian, amplifying lies on national platforms and name calling has now been rewarded. What a sad moment for the Chilmark Library.” Her reps did not immediately comment.
Dershowitz also commented on the outlet’s piece, by writing, “It’s distressing to see how many readers favor a taxpayer funded library banning a speaker because of who he represented as a lawyer. If that’s not McCarthyism, I don’t know what is. Imagine how these same readers would react if an Alabama public library banned a lawyer for representing a woman who sought an abortion.”
When we reached him for comment, he invited Laurie to attend the talk on his book, “Dershowitz on Killing: How the Law Decides Who Shall Live and Who Shall Die.”
“The only reason she wants to stop them from hearing me is she doesn’t like what I have to say,” he said. “The only way I got to speak is… by invoking the law. I hope people will come and listen to me…. I invite her to come and ask me the hardest questions.”
