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
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Indonesia eyes the world stageUnder The Radar Joining Brics could give the Southeast Asian nation new leverage on the world stage
-
Can Republicans navigate their narrow House majority?In the Spotlight This isn't the first time that a party has had no margin for error
-
How does Inauguration Day work?The Explainer Part Constitution, part tradition
-
ABC News to pay $15M in Trump defamation suitSpeed Read The lawsuit stemmed from George Stephanopoulos' on-air assertion that Trump was found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll
-
Judge blocks Louisiana 10 Commandments lawSpeed Read U.S. District Judge John deGravelles ruled that a law ordering schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms was unconstitutional
-
ATF finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole'Speed Read Biden moves to expand background checks for gun buyers
-
Hong Kong passes tough new security lawSpeed Read It will allow the government to further suppress all forms of dissent
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitutionspeed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
-
Texas executes man despite contested evidenceSpeed Read Texas rejected calls for a rehearing of Ivan Cantu's case amid recanted testimony and allegations of suppressed exculpatory evidence
-
Supreme Court wary of state social media regulationsSpeed Read A majority of justices appeared skeptical that Texas and Florida were lawfully protecting the free speech rights of users
-
Greece legalizes same-sex marriageSpeed Read Greece becomes the first Orthodox Christian country to enshrine marriage equality in law
