Court Justice Quotes

• Persuade your fellow citizens it's a good idea and pass a law. That's what democracy is all about. It's not about nine superannuated judges who have been there too long, imposing these demands on society.

  Antonin Scalia

  Court Judges, Law, Ideas

  "Scalia: Women Don’t Have Constitutional Protection Against Discrimination" by Amanda Terkel, www.huffingtonpost.com. January 3, 2011.

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• The Supreme Court of the United States is an institution damned by God Almighty.

  Jimmy Swaggart

  Religious, Court Judges, Law Courts

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• Bear in mind that brains and learning, like muscle and physical skill, are articles of commerce. They are bought and sold. You can hire them by the year or by the hour. The only thing in the world not for sale is character.

  Antonin Scalia

  Teaching, Learning, Character

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• God assumed from the beginning that the wise of the world would view Christians as fools...and He has not been disappointed....If I have brought any message today, it is this: Have the courage to have your wisdom regarded as stupidity. Be fools for Christ. And have the courage to suffer the contempt of the sophisticated world.

  Antonin Scalia

  God, Christian, Wise

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• So now the perception is, yes, women are here to stay. And when I'm sometimes asked when will there be enough [women on the Supreme Court]? And I say when there are nine, people are shocked. But there'd been nine men, and nobody's ever raised a question about that.

  Ruth Bader Ginsburg

  Men, People, Perception

  "Justice Ginsburg's distant dream of an all-female supreme court" by Jill Filipovic, www.theguardian.com. November 30, 2012.

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• Under all the usual rules of interpretation, in short, the Government should lose this case. But normal rules of interpretation seem always to yield to the overriding principle of the present Court: The Affordable Care Act must be saved.

  Antonin Scalia

  Yield, Government, Usual

  Antonin Scalia (2016). “Scalia's Court: A Legacy of Landmark Opinions and Dissents”, p.233, Regnery Publishing

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• If you're going to be a good and faithful judge, you have to resign yourself to the fact that you're not always going to like the conclusions you reach. If you like them all the time, you're probably doing something wrong.

  Antonin Scalia

  Court Judges, Judging, Faithful

  Speech at Chapman Law School, August 2005.

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• If we cannot have moral feelings against homosexuality, can we have it against murder? Can we have it against other things?

  Antonin Scalia

  Feelings, Moral, Murder

  "Antonin Scalia's 10 most memorable lines" By Gregory Krieg, www.cnn.com. February 13, 2016.

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• Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

  James Madison

  Exercise, Secular Society, Law

  Virginia. General Assembly. House of Delegates, J. W. Randolph, James Madison (1850). “The Virginia Report of 1799-1800: Touching the Alien and Sedition Laws; Together with the Virginia Resolutions of December 21, 1798, Including the Debate and Proceedings Thereon in the House of Delegates of Virginia and Other Documents Illustrative of the Report and Resolutions”, p.136

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• It is difficult to maintain the illusion that we are interpreting a Constitution, rather than inventing one.

  Antonin Scalia

  Melting, Constitution, Illusion

  Antonin Scalia (2016). “Scalia's Court: A Legacy of Landmark Opinions and Dissents”, p.58, Regnery Publishing

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• If, even as the price to be paid for a fifth vote, I ever joined an opinion for the Court that began: 'The Constitution promises liberty to all within its reach, a liberty that includes certain specific rights that allow persons, within a lawful realm, to define and express their identity,' I would hide my head in a bag. The Supreme Court of the United States has descended from the disciplined legal reasoning of John Marshall and Joseph Story to the mystical aphorisms of the fortune cookie.

  Antonin Scalia

  Rights, Fortune Cookie, Gay Marriage

  "This Scalia Zinger Is the Funniest Footnote to Come Out of the Supreme Court This Term" by Shane Ferro, www.businessinsider.com. June 26, 2015.

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• [T]he enshrinement of constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy choices off the table.... Undoubtedly some think that the Second Amendment is outmoded in a society where our standing army is the pride of our Nation, where well-trained police forces provide personal security, and where gun violence is a serious problem. That is perhaps debatable, but what is not debatable is that it is not the role of this Court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct.

  Antonin Scalia

  Pride, Army, Gun

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• Harriet Miers isn't qualified to play a Supreme Court justice on The West Wing , let alone to be a real one.

  Ann Coulter

  Real, Play, Wings

  " "This is what 'Advice and Consent' means" by nn Coulter, www.anncoulter.com. October 5, 2005.

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• Doesn't anyone wonder why the NAACP does not have events celebrating the first black woman secretary of state?.. Why does an organization whose mission is to advance the lot of blacks not celebrate Clarence Thomas, our black Supreme Court justice?

  Star Parker

  Organization, Justice, Black

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• I was very pleased to get a Supreme Court justice suggesting a column, so I went and did a column about Beano. I went with my wife and another guy to a Mexican restaurant, which we thought would be the ultimate test for an antiflatulance product. There's a reason most of Mexico is located out of doors. And it worked. Several newspapers refused to run that column. But they did run advertisements for Beano.

  Dave Barry

  Running, Doors, Justice

  ""All I Think Is That It's Stupid": An Interview with Dave Barry". Interview with Glenn Garvin, reason.com. December, 1994.

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• Given her lack of experience, does anyone doubt that Ms. Miers's only qualification to be a Supreme Court justice is her close connection to the president? Would the president have ever picked her if she had not been his lawyer, his close confidante, and his adviser?

  Randy Barnett

  Justice, Doubt, President

  "BUSH DEFENDS MIERS FROM HIS OWN / THE SUPREME COURT IN TRANSITION / President's supporters rush to attack nominee as a crony lacking record and intellectual depth" by Carolyn Lochhead, www.sfgate.com. October 5, 2005.

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• My mother used to say: 'It's not enough to be Hungarian. You still need a little talent, too.' To paraphrase her, its not enough to be conservative, you still need to have the brainpower to be a Supreme Court justice. And, if Harriet Miers is confirmed, she likely won't be in the same league with her colleagues in terms of gray matter.

  Dick Morris

  Mother, Gray Matter, League

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• 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.

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• The appointment of the next Supreme Court justice must be made in the people's interest and in the nation's interest, not in the interest of any partisan faction.

  Patrick Leahy

  People, Justice, Next

  "U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Judge Samuel Alito's Nomination to the Supreme Court". www.washingtonpost.com. January 9, 2006.

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• I want to appoint Supreme Court justices who understand the way the world really works, who have real-life experience, who have not just been in a big law firm and maybe clerked for a judge and then gotten on the bench, but, you know, maybe they tried some more cases, they actually understand what people are up against.

  Hillary Clinton

  Real, Law, Justice

  "Transcript of the Second Debate". www.nytimes.com. October 10, 2016.

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• It's quite a stark contrast between the candidates, in how they will change things for women. Hillary Clinton wants to appoint Supreme Court Justices who will protect Roe v Wade. [Donald] Trump wants to punish women for getting abortions and defund Planned Parenthood.

  Natalie Portman

  Justice, Abortion, Want

  Source: www.glamour.com

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• In the words of Louis Brandeis, the Supreme Court justice, we have a choice between a democracy or vast concentrations of wealth. We have vast concentrations of wealth which has bought its way into our democracy with its political leaders who exemplify the merger of that economic and political elite.

  Jill Stein

  Concentration Of Wealth, Justice, Choices

  "Off Message" with Glenn Thrush, www.politico.com. September 19, 2016.

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• If elected president I will have a litmus test in terms of my nominee to be a Supreme Court justice. And the nominee will say, we are going to overturn this disastrous decision on Citizens United because that decision is undermining American democracy. I do not believe that billionaires should be allowed to buy politicians.

  Bernie Sanders

  Believe, Justice, Decision

  "Face The Nation Transcripts May 10, 2015: Huckabee, Sanders, Gingrich". CBS News "Face The Nation" with Bob Schieffer, www.cbsnews.com. May 10, 2015.

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• It's our last chance [November 8, 2016]. And that includes Supreme Court justices and Second Amendment. Remember that.

  Donald Trump

  Justice, Second Amendment, Lasts

  Source: time.com

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• I had a massive victory over Ted [Cruz], it turned out. Remember Indiana was gonna be the change? I was gonna win New York, I was gonna win, then Indiana? But Indiana was a landslide. You gotta get over it. You know, at some point you gotta get over it. Otherwise we're gonna have three or four new Supreme Court justices that are going to be a disaster for the Republican Party.

  Donald Trump

  New York, Party, Winning

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

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