Judge Albert 'Albie' Sachs

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Judge Albert ‘Albie’ Sachs Nominee for Honorary Degree May 2017 Judge Albert ‘Albie’ Sachs , a white anti-apartheid leader, helped negotiate South Africa’s peaceful transition from an apartheid system to a constitutional democracy. Judge Sachs, 82, is credited as the chief architect of South Africa’s post-apartheid constitution. The son of Jewish Lithuanian political activists who were active in the Communist Party and trade unionism, Sachs earned his law degree from the University of Cape Town, where he was part of the Defiance of Unjust Laws Campaign. Beginning his practice at 21, he devoted his efforts to defending people charged under apartheid’s racist statutes and oppressive laws. He was the subject of police surveillance and survived 168 days in solitary confinement before going into exile in 1966. He continue fighting for the abolishment of apartheid while studying and teaching law in England and Mozambique, and in 1988 lost an arm and sight in one eye to a car bomb planted by security agents of the South African government. In 1990, he was named a member of the Constitutional Committee and the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress, playing an instrumental role in the inclusion of a Bill of Rights in a new charter, thus advocating equal access to housing, quality health care, clean water and a clean environment. In 1994, Sachs was named to South Africa’s Constitutional Court by then-President Nelson Mandela. During his storied career, Judge Sachs participated in landmark rulings such as those declaring capital punishment a violation of the right to life and making it unconstitutional to prevent gay and lesbian people from marrying. Now retired, he remains a hero of the anti-apartheid movement, and is globally recognized as a champion of human rights. Judge Sachs has connections to many African American and Jewish leaders in Detroit, and spent time in the U.S. during the Civil Rights movement. Even today, he continues his crusade for equality and justice by sharing his experience healing a divided nation with audiences around the world. .

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