We’ll give Dershowitz a pass on representing Jeffrey Epstein (along with repellent probable woman-killers like O. J. Simpson, Claus von Bülow, and Ted Kennedy), since everyone deserves a good lawyer. By definition, the worst people are probably the most in need of high-end legal representation! But there’s no good excuse for being friends with the billionaire pedophile. Ask any defense lawyer about their most depraved clients, and you’ll find few who will reminisce fondly about spending quality time with such characters. But Dershowitz was a guest of Epstein’s, on his private jet, at his homes in Palm Beach and New York, and on his private island in the Caribbean. As Epstein’s guests, many grown men are said to have had sex with underage girls. Two of Epstein’s victims have accused Dershowitz of joining in, a charge he has denied energetically and with litigation, suing one of the women for defamation.

He has also claimed that his accusers’ lawyer, David Boies, encouraged them to invent stories about him. Perhaps nothing is impossible, but this is a truly odd accusation on Dershowitz’s part. David Boies is not some desperate sleazy idiot taking out ads on bus benches. He is one of the most prominent lawyers in the country, having led the government’s successful prosecution of Microsoft and defending such zeitgeist villains as Harvey Weinstein and Theranos. Why would he risk disbarment and ruin by defaming another of the nation’s top lawyers? Boies has sued Dershowitz for peddling this batty conspiracy theory, calling it defamatory. No one has any way of knowing the truth of any of these charges and countercharges yet, since all this litigation is ongoing.