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Alan Dershowitz doubles down on Ted Cruz being one of his most brilliant law students

Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz isn't going to lie, he told Megyn Kelly on Tuesday's Kelly File. Ted Cruz "was one of the best students I ever had, because a teachers loves to be challenged," he said. Dershowitz uses the Socratic method, he said, and "everything I said, he disagreed with.... And he made such brilliant arguments that I never had to play the devil's advocate." Dershowitz, whose views skew liberal, said he knew Cruz's politics were the opposite, but they were also "clear, principled, unwavering, and very intelligently presented."

Kelly asked if it's true that Cruz was one of his smartest students ever, and Dershowitz said yes. "And in fact, I got a lot of criticism from my friends on the left, saying, 'Why are you saying that?'" he added. "I'm a professor. I have to tell the truth about my students, even if I disagree with their views, even if I'm not going to vote for him." Watch one of the oddest academic performance evaluations ever below. Peter Weber