Renowned South African activist, advocate, writer, and former judge on the Constitutional Court of South Africa Albie Sachs (full bio below) will look back on cases where that court asserted judicial independence by ruling on the actions of the country's presidents. This will include cases where Sachs was a sitting judge on the court, as well as cases where he was arguing in front of it.
Read a Pozen news article about Sachs's career and visit to UChicago.
Albie Sachs is an activist, advocate, writer, and former judge on the Constitutional Court of South Africa (1994 – 2009). He began practicing as an advocate at the Cape Bar at the age of 21, defending people charged under the racial statutes and security laws of apartheid.
After two spells of being detained in solitary confinement without trial, first for five months, then for three months, he went into exile in England, where he completed a PhD at Sussex University. In 1988, he lost his right arm and his sight in one eye when a bomb was placed in his car by South African security agents in Maputo, Mozambique.
After the bombing, he devoted himself to the preparations for a new democratic constitution for South Africa. When he returned home from exile, he served as a member of the Constitutional Committee and the National Executive of the African National Congress until the first democratic elections in 1994. Later that year, he stepped aside from his political activities and was appointed by Nelson Mandela to South Africa’s first Constitutional Court.
Sachs is the founder of the Albie Sachs Trust for Constitutionalism and the Rule of Law and a Board member of the Constitution Hill Trust, both of which promote constitutionalism and the rule of law. He has traveled to many countries, sharing South African experiences that might help heal divided societies.
He is the author of several books, including The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs, Justice in South Africa, Sexism and the Law, Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter, The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law, We, the People: Insights of an Activist Judge, and Oliver Tambo’s Dream.
In February 2025, to mark his 90th birthday, Sachs launched The Albie Collection, an online archive of materials related to his life and work.
If you have questions or would like additional information on accessibility and accommodations in place for this event, please contact International House at 773-753-2274 or i-house-programs@uchicago.edu
- University of Chicago Division of the Social Sciences
- Global Human Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School
- Chicago Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression (Lead support for the Chicago Forum’s Zell Speaker and Event Series comes from the Zell Family Foundation.)
- International House Chicago
- Department of History
- UChicago Global