Nathan Lewin (born January 31, 1936) is an American attorney who has argued many cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.
His grandfather, the chief rabbi of Rzeszow, was elected to and served twice as a member of the Polish Legislature (“Sejm”).
Lewin’s father, who was elected twice to the Lodz City Council, was later a professor of Jewish History at Yeshiva University’s Bernard Revel Graduate School and a prolific author in Polish, Yiddish, Hebrew, and English.
[1] Lewin also served as Deputy Administrator of the Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs at the Department of State.
He later served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.
[5] Hoffa referred to Lewin as "Instant Law" because of his expertise in finding relevant caselaw in short order.
[8] Lewin drafted a number of legislative provisions that preserve the constitutional right to freedom of religion including: the provision of the federal Civil Rights Act enacted in 1972 that protects religious observances of private employees, the provision of federal law that enables federal employees to observe religious holidays without financial penalty, the provision of New York's Domestic Relations Law that conditions the issuance of a civil divorce on removal of barriers to remarriage such as the delivery or acceptance of a get (Jewish religious divorce), the provision of federal law that entitles servicemen to wear yarmulkes with their military uniforms[9] and advocated on behalf of Jewish prisoners who were denied kosher food.
[18] Lewin's individual clients have included the Agudas Chasidei Chabad which was led by Lubavitcher Rebbe[1] Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Attorney General Edwin Meese III, whom he represented while he was serving as Attorney General, former President Richard Nixon, Jodie Foster, John Lennon, nursing home owner Bernard Bergman, Congressman George Hansen, Teamsters president Roy Williams, and Israeli war hero Aviem Sella.
[20] He also served as the Justice Department's special counsel in the deportation case against Valerian Trifa who had led the Iron Guard in Nazi-occupied Romania.
[21] Lewin is married to Rikki Gordon (a photojournalist), with whom he has two daughters, Alyza Doba (an attorney who is also his law partner) and Na’ama Batya (a multimedia artist and photojournalism professor).
In an essay in Sh'ma, Lewin said that suicide bombers were ready to give up their lives to murder crowds of people to whom they were not related and did not know.
For deterrence to be effective, the law should notify potential bombers that their adult family members will be treated as if they were in the crowd of victims.