Judiciary Quotes

• All the rights secured to the citizens under the Constitution are worth nothing, and a mere bubble, except guaranteed to them by an independent and virtuous Judiciary.

  Andrew Jackson

  Independent, Rights, Citizens

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, selfappointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.

  James Madison

  Government, Hands, Independent Judiciary

  The Federalist no. 47 (1788)

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• The bedrock of our democracy is the rule of law and that means we have to have an independent judiciary, judges who can make decisions independent of the political winds that are blowing.

  Caroline Kennedy

  Mean, Independent, Wind

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• The Constitution is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they please.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Patriotic, Hands, Twists

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoirs, Correspondence and Private Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Late President of the United States”, p.325

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• The proper role of the judiciary is one of interpreting and applying the law, not making it.

  Sandra Day O'Connor

  Law, Roles, Interpreting

  New York Times, February 23, 1984.

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• We are under a Constitution, but the Constitution is what the judges say it is, and the judiciary is the safeguard of our property and our liberty and our property under the Constitution.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Judging, Liberty, Constitution

  Charles Evans Hughes, David Joseph Danelski, Joseph S. Tulchin (1973). “The autobiographical notes of Charles Evans Hughes”, Harvard Univ Pr

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• The reality is that our independent judiciary is the most respected branch of our government and the envy of the world.

  Ted Olson

  Independent, Reality, Government

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• I have to say that the judges and our judiciary system makes better decisions than the politicians.

  Arnold Schwarzenegger

  Judging, Decision, Politician

  Source: guff.com

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• Without justice being freely, fully, and impartially administered, neither our persons, nor our rights, nor our property, can be protected. And if these, or either of them, are regulated by no certain laws, and are subject to no certain principles, and are held by no certain tenure, and are redressed, when violated, by no certain remedies, society fails of all its value; and men may as well return to a state of savage and barbarous independence.

  Joseph Story

  Men, Rights, Law

  Joseph Story (1873). “Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States: With a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States Before the Adoption of the Constitution”, p.353, Boston : Little, Brown

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• Whoever attentively considers the different departments of power must perceive, that, in a government in which they are separated from each other, the judiciary, from the nature of its functions, will always be the least dangerous to the political rights of the Constitution; because it will be least in a capacity to annoy or injure them.

  Alexander Hamilton

  Rights, Government, Political

  Alexander Hamilton (1831). “The Federalist on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788, with an Appendix Containing the Letters of Pacificus and Helvidius on the Proclamation of Neutrality of 1793”, p.385

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• The judiciary must not take on the coloration of whatever may be popular at the moment. We are guardian of rights, and we have to tell people things they often do not like to hear.

  Rose Bird

  Rights, People, May

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• The great object of my fear is the federal judiciary. That body, like gravity, ever acting, with noiseless foot, and unalarming advance, gaining ground step by step, and holding what it gains, is ingulfing insidiously the special governments into the jaws of that which feeds them.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Government, Feet, Special

  Thomas Jefferson, Andrew M. Allison (1983). “The Real Thomas Jefferson”, Natl Center for Constitutional

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• The Constitution is what the judges say it is.

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Judging, Constitution

  Speech, Elmira, N.Y., 3 May 1907

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• And it proves, in the last place, that liberty can have nothing to fear from the judiciary alone, but would have everything to fear from its union with either of the other departments.

  Alexander Hamilton

  Liberty, Executive Power, Unions

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2015). “The Federalist Papers: A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution”, p.380, Coventry House Publishing

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• A judiciary independent of a king or executive alone, is a good thing; but independence of the will of the nation is a solecism, at least in a republican government.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Kings, Independent, Government

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoirs, Correspondence and Private Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Late President of the United States”, p.346

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• You must remember that democracy is made up not only of the executive, but the legislature and the judiciary.

  Aung San Suu Kyi

  Democracy, Remember, Legislature

  Source: www.voanews.com

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• The framers of the Constitution were so clear in the federalist papers and elsewhere that they felt an independent judiciary was critical to the success of the nation.

  Sandra Day O'Connor

  Independent, Paper, Constitution

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• It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is...If two laws conflict with each other, the courts must decide on the operation of each...This is of the very essence of judicial duty.

  John Marshall

  Law, Essence, Two

  Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137, 178, 1803.

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• One single object . . . [will merit] the endless gratitude of the society: that of restraining the judges from usurping legislation.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Gratitude, Judging, Politics

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• We have to change the system. The system is very rotten. The executive is corrupt, the Congress is corrupt, the judiciary is corrupt. ... So what's left We really have to have a radical and surgical change to bring back the image of our country.

  Joseph Estrada

  Country, Rotten, Congress

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• It equally proves, that though individual oppression may now and then proceed from the courts of justice, the general liberty of the people can never be endangered from that quarter; I mean so long as the judiciary remains truly distinct from both the legislature and the Executive. For I agree, that "there is no liberty, if the power of judging be not separated from the legislative and executive powers." And it proves, in the last place, that as liberty can have nothing to fear from the judiciary alone, but would have every thing to fear from its union with either of the other departments.

  Alexander Hamilton

  Mean, Judging, Long

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2015). “The Federalist Papers: A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution”, p.380, Coventry House Publishing

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• It is emphatically the province and duty of the Judicial Department to say what the law is.

  John Marshall

  Law, Judicial Review, Court

  Marbury v. Madison (1803)

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• The judiciary of the United States is the subtle corps of sappers and miners constantly working under ground to undermine the foundations of our confederated fabric. They are construing our constitution from a co-ordination of a general and special government to a general and supreme one alone.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Government, Special, Foundation

  Thomas Jefferson (1861). “Correspondence. Reports and opinions while secretarry of state”, p.192

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• [T]here is not a syllable in the plan under consideration which directly empowers the national courts to construe the laws according to the spirit of the Constitution.

  Alexander Hamilton

  Law, Empowering, Spirit

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2004). “The Federalist Papers”, p.576, Simon and Schuster

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• The judiciary has fallen to a very low state in this country. I think your part of the country has suffered especially. The federal judges of the South are a disgrace to any country, and I'll be damned if I put any man on the bench of whose character and ability there is the least doubt.

  William Howard Taft

  Country, Character, Men

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