Chief Justice Quotes

• Our chief justices have probably had more profound and lasting influence on their times and on the direction of the nation than most presidents.

  Richard M. Nixon

  Profound, Justice, President

  Nixon, Richard M. (1971). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard M. Nixon, 1969”, p.388, Best Books on

  52 Copy quote

  Show source

• The irony of the Supreme Court hearing on these cases last week and of the outright hostility that the Court has displayed against religion in recent years is that above the head of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is a concrete display of the Ten Commandments.

  Cliff Stearns

  Years, Justice, Religion

  52 Copy quote

• Soon after I returned to private practice, former Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger called me one day.

  Fred F. Fielding

  Practice, Justice, One Day

  53 Copy quote

• The death of chief justice Rehnquist and the president's nomination of John Roberts raises the stakes for the court and the American people exponentially.

  Ralph Neas

  People, Justice, President

  52 Copy quote

• The Stamp Act was a direct tax imposed on the colonies by King George III. This act inevitably led to the American Revolution. Just as the Stamp Act did in 1765, Obamacare should act as a wake-up call. Chief Justice Roberts provides us with a similar call to action.

  Rand Paul

  Kings, Obamacare, Justice

  62 Copy quote

• Chief Justice [John] Roberts compared judges to umpires, who apply rules they did not write and cannot change to the competition before them.

  Orrin Hatch

  Writing, Umpires, Justice

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• It's now up to the full Senate to move swiftly to confirm John Roberts so he can assume his duties and responsibilities as chief justice when the Supreme Court begins its new term in a matter of weeks. We call on the Senate to confirm John Roberts without delay.

  Jay Sekulow

  Moving, Responsibility, Justice

  7 Copy quote

• Ask any real estate broker to name the three most important factors in buying a property, and he'll say: "Location, location, location." Now ask him to name the chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, and he'll say: "Location, location, location." This tells us that we should not necessarily be paying a whole lot of attention to real estate brokers.

  Dave Barry

  Real, Names, Justice

  Dave Barry (2010). “Homes and Other Black Holes”, p.11, Ballantine Books

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• And Eleanor's husband was the man who did the interning. And I think they - Governor Warren, who was later to become such an impassioned Chief Justice on all sorts of human rights issues, was very big in the internment process. And I think that we simply sometimes tend not to understand or remember how people felt.

  William A. Rusher

  Husband, Thinking, Men

  Source: www.pbs.org

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• I wonder if there's just a sense that we have nothing to learn from any Supreme Court justice, including the great Chief Justice John Marshall.

  Dahlia Lithwick

  Justice, Wonder, Court

  "What Would Brandeis Do?". "Amicus" with Dahlia Lithwick, www.slate.com. June 16, 2016.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• I think even though the court is moving toward trying to translate the Constitution into a digital age, there was that wonderful unanimous decision that Chief Justice Roberts wrote saying you can't search a cellphone on arrest without a warrant.

  Jeffrey Rosen

  Moving, Thinking, Justice

  "What Would Brandeis Do?". "Amicus" with Dahlia Lithwick, www.slate.com. June 16, 2016.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is extraordinary that each of the three individuals this president [ George W. Bush] has nominated for the Supreme Court - Chief Justice [John] Roberts, Harriet Miers and now Judge Alito - has served not only as a lawyer for the executive branch, but has defended the most expansive view of presidential authority.

  Edward Kennedy

  Views, Justice, Judging

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• I was pleased to see that Chief Justice [John] Roberts refused to prejudge issues or make promises in exchange for confirmation votes. We're all better off because of his principled stand.

  Jon Kyl

  Issues, Justice, Promise

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• In my opinion, Chief Justice Roberts put it best during his recent confirmation hearings. And he said, and I quote, "The framers were not the sort of people, having fought a revolution to get the right of self-government to sit down and say, 'Well, let's take all the difficult issues before us and let's have the judges decide them.' That would have been the farthest thing from their mind," however, I fear that the Supreme Court forgets this advice.

  Mike DeWine

  Issues, Government, Self

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• I never place limits on the potential success of my students. If they're going into acting, they're going to win the Oscar... If they're going into law, they're going to be chief justice.

  Alan Dershowitz

  Winning, Law, Justice

  4 Copy quote

• The Lord Chief Justice of England recently said that the greater part of his judicial time was spent investigating collisions between propelled vehicles, each on its own side of the road, each sounding its horn and each stationary.

  Philip Guedalla

  Punishment, Justice, Sides

  4 Copy quote

• On the whole, yes, I would rather be the Chief Justice of the United States, and a quieter life than that which becomes at the White House is more in keeping with the temperament, but when taken into consideration that I go into history as President, and my children and my children's children are the better placed on account of that fact, I am inclined to think that to be President well compensates one for all the trials and criticisms he has to bear and undergo.

  William Howard Taft

  Children, Taken, Thinking

  4 Copy quote

• Chief Justice Roberts has expressly said that the Constitution and the government should be colorblind, he sees no difference between government action that discriminates against minorities and one that benefits minorities.

  Erwin Chemerinsky

  Government, Differences, Justice

  4 Copy quote

• A city is where you can sign a petition, boo the chief justice, fish off a pier, gaze at a hippopotamus, buy a flower at the corner, or get a good hamburger or a bad girl at 4 A.M. A city is where sirens make white streaks of sound in the sky and foghorns speak in dark grays. San Francisco is such a city.

  Herb Caen

  Girl, Flower, Dark

  Herb Caen (1967). “San Francisco, City on Golden Hills”

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• Within the brain's most secret cells,
  A certain lord chief justice dwells,
  Of sov'reign power, whom one and all,
  With common voice we reason call.

  Charles Churchill

  Voice, Cells, Justice

  Charles Churchill, “The Ghost - Book IV”

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• The Chief Justice's ... main point seemed to be that the references to God in the Pledge of Allegiance aren't really religious and therefore are not that important - something I would think would offend Christians who think it should stay because it is religious and does matter. Too many Christians appear to be desperate to shore up their failing confidence in their own religious beliefs by having the government officially endorse those beliefs.

  Ed Buckner

  Christian, Religious, Thinking

  5 Copy quote

• The issue of gay marriage has reached the Supreme Court and observers are analyzing every detail to predict how each justice will vote. Experts say Chief Justice John Roberts is likely to rule in favor of gay marriage based on the fact that he spent Tuesday's hearings watching the Tony Award nominations.

  David Letterman

  Gay, Awards, Issues

  4 Copy quote

• Got good news and bad news for you, Mr. President. The good news is that Chief Justice John Roberts just saved your legacy and, perhaps, your presidency by writing for the Supreme Court majority to rule health care reform constitutional.

  Ron Fournier

  Writing, Justice, President

  4 Copy quote

• Even before the hearings that led to confirmation of Chief Justice Roberts, senators were saying they were reserving judgment on how they would vote until they got to know him better at the hearings.

  Dana Perino

  Justice, Hearing, Vote

  "White House targets doubts on Miers nod", www.washingtontimes.com. October 11, 2005.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• But the Chief Justice says, 'There must be an ultimate arbiter somewhere.' True, there must; but does that prove it is either party? The ultimate arbiter is the people of the Union, assembled by their deputies in convention, at the call of Congress or of two-thirds of the States. Let them decide to which they mean to give an authority claimed by two of their organs. And it has been the peculiar wisdom and felicity of our Constitution, to have provided this peaceable appeal, where that of other nations is at once to force.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Party, Mean, Two

  Thomas Jefferson, Henry Augustine Washington (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence, cont”, p.298

  6 Copy quote

  Show source