At the time, his father, Eli Goldstein, was a lawyer working for the Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG) at the Army Air Force Base in Santa Maria.
After a medical deferment from the Vietnam War, he partnered with Maury Maverick, Jr., a liberal leader in Texas politics, to defend conscientious objectors and civil rights cases.
[3][4] Goldstein represented a newly hired theater operator in San Antonio who had been arrested for showing the x-rated movie Deep Throat in 1974.
In that case, the two men, Sterling Davis, Sr. and William McCoy Hill, entered the border city's jail in Mexico and freed fourteen American inmates charged with drug offenses.
[4] Abrego was accused of presiding over the flow of Colombian cocaine through northern Mexico into the U.S,[6] as well as money laundering, attempted bribery, and the murders of numerous individuals.
Goldstein's criticism centered around the detainment of his client, Dr. Al-Badr Al Hazmi, a radiology resident, who was arrested the morning after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
The award recognizes attorneys whose practice has spanned 50 years or more and who adhere to the highest principles and traditions of the legal profession and service to the public.