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Phyllis Altman From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Justice Albie Sachs in South Africa's Constitutional Court Albert "Albie" Louis Sachs (1935-) was a judge on the Constitutional Court of South Africa. He was appointed to the court by Nelson Mandela in 1994 and retired in October 2009. Justice Sachs gained international attention in 2005 as the author of the Court's holding in the case of Minister of Home Affairs v Fourie, in which the Court overthrew South Africa's statute defining marriage to be between one man and one woman as a violation of the Constitution's general mandate for equal protection for all and its specific mandate against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Contents [hide] 1 Early life 2 Imprisonment and exile 3 Awards and writings 4 Radio 5 References 6 External links [edit]Early life

Sachs was born into a South African Jewish family of Lithuanian background. His career in human rights activism started at the age of seventeen, when as a second year law student at the University of Cape Town, he took part in the Defiance of Unjust Laws Campaign.[1] Three years later, in 1955, he attended the Congress of the People at Kliptown where the Freedom Charter was adopted. He started practice as an advocate at the Cape Town Bar aged twenty one, where he defended people charged under racial statutes and security laws under South African Apartheid. Sachs has a law degree from the University of Cape Town and a PhD from Sussex University. [edit]Imprisonment and exile

After being arrested and placed in solitary confinement for his work in the freedom movement, Albie Sachs went into exile in England and then Mozambique. In 1988, in Maputo, Mozambique, he lost an arm and his sight in one eye when a bomb was placed in his car by South African security agents. After the bombing, he devoted himself to the preparations for a new democratic constitution for South Africa. He returned to South Africa and served as a member of the Constitutional Committee and the National Executive of the African National Congress. [edit]Awards and writings

In 1991 he won the Alan Paton Award for his book Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter. The book chronicles his response to the 1988 car bombing. A revised, updated and expanded edition was released in October 2011.[2] He is also the author of Justice in South Africa (1974), The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs (1966), Sexism and the Law (1979), and The Free Diary of Albie Sachs (2004). His most recent book, The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law (2009), also won the Alan Paton Award, making him the second person to have won it twice.[3] The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs was dramatized for television and broadcast by the BBC in the late 1970s.[4] He helped select the art collection at Constitution Hill, the seat of the Constitutional Court. In 2006 his alma mater the University of Cape Town awarded him an honorary Doctorate in Law.[5][6] On 8 July 2008 Sachs was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) degree by the University of Ulster in recognition of his contribution to human rights and justice globally.[7] In 2009 Sachs received the Academy of Achievement Golden Plate Award. On 16 July 2010 Sachs was further awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of the University of York for his contribution to the construction of post-apartheid South Africa, in particular for his involvement in the creation of the South African constitution.[8] This constitution is widely regarded as being the most progressive in the world.[9] In all, Sachs has 14 honorary degrees across four continents.[10] [edit]Radio

On idealism, passion and reason in South Africa Albie Sachs Speaks on BBC The Forum On the 20 June 21012 he received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Dundee. [edit]References

^ Image: Participants in the 1952 Defiance Campaign ^ [1] ^ Book SA ^ [2] ^ Honours Roll, University of Cape Town ^ Law Review, September 2007 ^ Ulster honours Distinguished South African Jurist Albie Sachs University of Ulster News Release 8 July 2008 ^ University of York honours Albie Sachs ^ The Constitution of South Africa; Heinz Klug, The Constitution of South Africa: a Contextual Analysis (Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2010) ^ [3] [edit]External links

Biography at the Constitutional Court of South Africa website - broken link Sept 2011 An interview with Albie Sachs by the Conversations with History program of the Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley Voices on Antisemitism Interview with Albie Sachs from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum Interview with Justice Sachs on Chicago Public Radio's Worldview program Hear his talk "The South African Court Looks At Same-Sex Marriages: The Fourie Case" at the University of Chicago Interview with Albie Sachs on The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law, "The Law Report" (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 14 September 2010 [hide] v t e Constitutional Court of South Africa Constitution Hill, Johannesburg Current Justices Mogoeng Mogoeng (Chief Justice) Dikgang Moseneke (Deputy Chief Justice) Edwin Cameron Johan Froneman Chris Jafta Sisi Khampepe Bess Nkabinde Thembile Skweyiya Johann van der Westhuizen Zak Yacoob

Former Justices Lourens Ackermann Arthur Chaskalson John Didcott Richard Goldstone Johann Kriegler Pius Langa Tholie Madala Ismail Mahomed Yvonne Mokgoro Sandile Ngcobo Kate O'Regan Albie Sachs Lists of judgments 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Law of South Africa Constitution of South Africa Courts of South Africa Judiciary of South Africa