The New York Times has some interesting insights into Chriss Dodd.

Mr. Dodd, who had a very public bachelorhood after his first marriage ended (dates with Bianca Jagger and Carrie Fisher) before settling down in 1999 with a wife, Jackie Marie Clegg

So he dated Princess Leia, but more significant is his fathers work as a prosecutor at the Nuremburg trials.

His issues with torture and warrantless wiretapping really stem from his experience with his father, who he clearly admired greatly, and a very large part of his work on civil right is about living up to what he considers his fathers heroism at Nuremburg.