51 Facts About Albie Sachs

Albert "Albie" Louis Sachs was born on 30 January 1935 and is a South African lawyer, activist, writer, and former judge appointed to the first Constitutional Court of South Africa by Nelson Mandela.

Albie Sachs was born in Johannesburg at the Florence Nightingale Hospital to Emile Solomon "Solly" Sachs, General Secretary to the Garment Workers' Union of South Africa, and Rachel "Ray" Sachs.

Albie Sachs said that Kotane's presence in his family's life, in particular the way he was admired by Albie Sachs' mother, made it clear to him that racism was absurd, inhuman, and unjust.

Albie Sachs's parents separated when he was a toddler and he moved with his mother and younger brother Johnny to a modest beachside home in Cape Town.

Albie Sachs excelled in school and was moved forward two grades, in part due to a shortage of schoolteachers in South Africa during World War II.

Albie Sachs attended South African College Schools, where he edited the school magazine, for junior and high school before graduating.

Albie Sachs started law school at the University of Cape Town at the age of 15, and won a prize for English in his first year.

Albie Sachs was admitted to the bar in South Africa and began practicing law at 21, and became an advocate for those being prosecuted under racist and oppressive laws, including people who opposed apartheid.

In 1955, Albie Sachs attended the Congress of the People in Kliptown.

Albie Sachs was eventually arrested and detained in solitary confinement under the 90-Day Detention Law.

Albie Sachs was released after three months but was promptly rearrested and held for an additional seventy-eight days.

Albie Sachs left for England accompanied by Stephanie Kemp, a former client and later cellmate.

Albie Sachs's thesis, titled Justice in South Africa, was published in both the UK and the USA but was banned in South Africa, with those in possession of it facing prison time.

Albie Sachs published The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs, which illustrated his time in detainment, in 1966 and Stephanie on Trial, which covered Kemp's imprisonment and his second arrest, in 1968.

Albie Sachs moved to the newly independent Mozambique in 1977, where he worked as a law professor at the Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo and studied Portuguese to fluency.

Albie Sachs was later the Ministry of Justice's Director of Research.

Albie Sachs helped lay the foundations for the future constitution of South Africa by serving as a scribe and provided Tambo with legal support.

On 7 April 1988, Albie Sachs opened the door to his car and it exploded.

Albie Sachs lost his right arm and vision in his left eye, and a passerby was killed.

Albie Sachs was stabilized in Mozambique, then flown to London Hospital to recover.

Albie Sachs then flew to Dublin to work on the first draft of South Africa's Bill of Rights along with Kader Asmal under the direction of the ANC.

In early 1989, Albie Sachs went to the US to work with Jack Greenberg at the Columbia School of Law and Louis Henkin at the School of International and Public Affairs.

Albie Sachs attended a Law and Justice Seminar in Aspen, Colorado moderated by Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, whose personal physician spoke about the intersection of his Catholic identity and his opposition to abortion and his belief that his own beliefs should not be forced on others with different beliefs.

Albie Sachs took from this the idea of the relationship between the sacred and the secular, which would later influence his own judgments.

Albie Sachs returned to South Africa in 1990 after the unbanning of the ANC and other political organizations and the release of Nelson Mandela.

Albie Sachs continued working with the ANC's Constitutional Committee and in 1990 published Protecting Human Rights in South Africa.

Albie Sachs worked with UWC to organized workshops on electoral systems, land rights, regional government, and affirmative action, among other topics.

In December 1992, Albie Sachs worked on ANC's team during negotiations for a new constitutional order.

Albie Sachs served on Working Group Two, which dealt with the nature of the South African State and the process for constitution-making.

Albie Sachs has been widely credited as the "chief architect" of the post-apartheid 1996 Constitution, a label that he firmly rejects, insisting that the Constitution was the product of large groups of people working over many years and culminating in the intense work of the Constitutional Assembly, of which he was not even a member.

Albie Sachs has said that, if one were to do a paternity test on South Africa's Constitution, that Oliver Tambo's DNA would be revealed.

In 1994, following South Africa's first democratic elections, Albie Sachs resigned from the ANC's National Executive Committee and pursued a position on the country's newly established Constitutional Court.

Albie Sachs was selected later that year by Mandela as a founding member of the Court.

Albie Sachs's appointment inspired initial controversy, primarily due to his interview with the Judicial Service Commission.

Albie Sachs received criticism from other politicians and lawyers, which he felt was unfair given his central role in ending torture in ANC camps.

Albie Sachs worked on a number of landmark cases, including Minister of Home Affairs v Fourie and the Prisoners' Right to Vote.

Albie Sachs wrote the Court's majority judgement in Minister of Home Affairs v Fourie declaring that South Africa's statute defining marriage to be between one man and one woman was unconstitutional for not including same-sex couples.

Albie Sachs stated that the Parliament was obligated to amend the Marriage Act to reflect the inclusion written into the Constitution and that the Court itself would make the changes if Parliament did not act within a year.

Albie Sachs initially planned to dismiss the case but, in talking with his colleagues, he learned that M was a single parent of three teenagers living in an area with high levels of gang and drug activity and violence.

Albie Sachs was the owner and operator of two small businesses and was a member of the school governing board.

Albie Sachs accepted the case on the grounds of the children's right to parental care.

Albie Sachs retired in October 2009 after fifteen years in the Court.

Albie Sachs has remained active in his retirement and travels around the world to lecture or act as a consultant.

Albie Sachs worked with Canadian Supreme Court Justice Claire L'Heureux-Dube to encourage Supreme Court judges in Sri Lanka and Nepal to approach their roles with greater gender sensitivity.

Albie Sachs traveled in his early years as well, speaking to the Northern Irish during The Troubles, Sri Lankans during the Tiger Tamil Rebellion, and Colombians and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia in support of the Colombian peace process.

Albie Sachs served on the International Cricket Council's Disciplinary Appeals Board for many years.

The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs was dramatized by playwright David Edgar for the Royal Shakespeare Company and was televised by the BBC in 1981.

Maria Ressa, IACT, In 2022, Albie Sachs was featured the Netflix documentary Live to Lead.

Albie Sachs married his first wife, Stephanie Kemp, a member of the African Resistance Movement, ANC, and SACP, in 1966.

Albie Sachs remained in London for another 10 years and worked as a physiotherapist specializing in the treatment of children with cerebral palsy before returning to South Africa.

Albie Sachs describes himself as "a very secular person" who is respectful of others' beliefs and is proud to identify as a Jew.