take sides

Idioms  

1. Also, take someone's side. Support or favor one party in a dispute, as in Parents shouldn't take sides in their children's quarrels, or Thanks for taking my side concerning the agenda. [c. 1700] Also see take someone's part.

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Example Sentences

He preserves an ironic detachment, refusing to take sides between the colonial French forces and the Communists fighting to take control of the country.

From The Wall Street Journal

They know they cannot immediately take sides - even if they want to.

From BBC

The concept, he explained, was first framed by Arthur O. Lovejoy in 1915, as a “principle aimed at curtailing the readiness of academic administrations to take sides in disputes in which some of their faculty members were on the other side” and was “intended to protect academic freedom.”

From Salon

Schickler said the Institute of Governmental Studies, while contained within a UC campus, does not take sides in the current political conflict over colleges and universities.

From Los Angeles Times

For decades British governments have refused to take sides over who should control Western Sahara, which is considered a "non-self-governing territory" by the UN.

From BBC