Supreme Court Quotes - Page 6

• Separation of power says the judiciary committee is supposed to confirm qualified judges and then what the Supreme Court does, that is their function, not my function.

  Arlen Specter

  Judging, Doe, Separation

  "Specter: 'I'm pro-choice ... But I don't make the decisions'". "Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics", www.cnn.com. November 9, 2004.

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• The Supreme Court ruled that disabled golfer Casey Martin has a legal right to ride in a golf cart between shots at PGA Tour events. Man, the next thing you know, they're going to have some guy carry his clubs around for him.

  Jon Stewart

  Golf, Men, Guy

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• Markets work best when there's lots of information available and a historical track record to go on; they excel at predicting things like horse races, election outcomes, and box-office results. But they're bad at predicting things like who will be the next Supreme Court nominee, as that depends on the whim of the president.

  James Surowiecki

  Horse, Race, Track

  "The Age of Political Risk". www.newyorker.com. May 24, 2010.

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• The Supreme Court, of course, has the responsibility of ensuring that our government never oversteps its proper bounds or violates the rights of individuals. But the Court must also recognize the limits on itself and respect the choices made by the American people.

  Elena Kagan

  Responsibility, Rights, Government

  Opening Statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee at the USSC Justice Confirmation Hearings, delivered 28 June 2010

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• We made history when President Obama appointed Sonia Sotomayor, a proud Latina, the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice. And as the President likes to say, 'Every single one of them wasn't just the best Latino for the job, but the best person for the job.'

  Charlie Gonzalez

  Jobs, Justice, President

  "Charles Gonzalez DNC speech". www.politico.com. September 4, 2012.

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• Our national media refuses to report that even the Supreme Court did not say marriage was a human right in all cases nor did it say that the heterosexual definition violated anyone's right or that the heterosexual definition of marriage was unconstitutional.

  Stockwell Day

  Media, Definitions, Court

  House of Commons Debates, www.ourcommons.ca. March 24, 2005.

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• The Supreme Court has said that: Marriage is the most important relation in life. Now that's being withheld from the plaintiffs. It is the foundation of society. It is essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness. It's a right of privacy older than the Bill of Rights and older than our political parties. One of the liberties protected by the Due Process Clause. A right of intimacy to the degree of being sacred. And a liberty right equally available to a person in a homosexual relationship as to heterosexual persons.

  Ted Olson

  Party, Pursuit Of Happiness, Rights

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• I think with a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, you can't play, you know, hide the salami, or whatever it's called.

  Howard Dean

  Thinking, Play, Lifetime

  "Where do Democrats stand?". "Hardball" with Chris Matthews, www.nbcnews.com. October 6, 2005.

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• In the United States, the Supreme Court's decision of 1954, outlawing segregation in school systems, was greeted with mixed feelings of hope and skepticism by African-Americans.

  John Henrik Clarke

  School, Decision, African American

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• I don't believe that Jesus would approve abortion except in the case of incest, rape or the mother's life in danger. But I had to enforce the Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade so I tried to do everything I could to minimize the need for abortions.

  Jimmy Carter

  Mother, Jesus, Believe

  "Interview: President Jimmy Carter Talks About His New Bible and Christian Beliefs". Interview with Katherine T. Phan, www.christianpost.com. March 30, 2012.

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• For a justice of this ultimate tribunal [the U.S. Supreme Court], the opportunity for self-discovery and the occasion for self-revelation is great.

  Abe Fortas

  Opportunity, Discovery, Self

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• The president and his right-wing Supreme Court think it is 'okay' to have the government take your house if they feel like putting a hotel where your house is.

  Howard Dean

  Thinking, Government, Wings

  Speech to College Democrats, July 29, 2005.

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• If diversity is what is a central value in every selective university in the United States, then it ought to be seen as a compelling interest by the Supreme Court.

  Eleanor Holmes Norton

  Diversity, United States, Court

  "Is affirmative action necessary?", www.cnn.com. December 5, 2002.

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• I'm really proud of this Supreme Court and the way they've been dealing with the issue of First Amendment political speech.

  Mitch McConnell

  Issues, Political, Speech

  Koch Brothers Donor Summit speech, ladylibertine.net. June 15, 2014.

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• I am bound by the laws of the United States and all 50 states...I am not bound by any case or any court to which I myself am not a party...I don't think the Congress of the United States is subservient to the courts...They can ignore a Supreme Court ruling if they so choose.

  Pat Robertson

  Party, Thinking, Law

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• We sought justice because equal pay for equal work is an American value. That fight took me ten years. It took me all the way to the Supreme Court. And, in a 5 - 4 decision, they stood on the side of those who shortchanged my pay, my overtime, and my retirement just because I am a woman.

  Lilly Ledbetter

  Retirement, Fighting, Equal Pay

  Lilly Ledbetter's Speech at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, www.politico.com. September 4, 2012.

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• The Supreme Court has never ruled that Congress can use the Commerce Clause to require individuals to engage in an activity they have chosen to avoid. Yet that is precisely what Obamacare does: It forces Americans without health insurance to purchase coverage. Such a requirement is unprecedented and unconstitutional.

  John Cornyn

  Obamacare, Doe, Use

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• I got the chance to argue my first case in Supreme Court, a criminal case arising in Alabama that involved the right of a defendant to counsel at a critical stage in a capital case before a trial.

  Constance Baker Motley

  Firsts, Criminals, Alabama

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• In the 2000 presidential election, Al Gore got more votes than George W. Bush, but still lost the election. The Supreme Court's ruling in Florida gave Bush that pivotal state, and doomed Gore to lose the Electoral College. That odd scenario - where the candidate with the most votes loses - has happened three times in U.S. history.

  Juan Williams

  College, Florida, Worst Case Scenario

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• John Boehner has to start taking a macro step towards the American people, away from the more radical elements of his party. You know, it's almost a form of anarchy. We have a law that was passed by Congress. We have a law that the Supreme Court said was legal. It's been implemented. And I'm sorry they don't like it. There's been a lot of laws in the past the Democrats didn't like. But that's what this country is about. You pass laws. And if they are deemed legal, you respect them and you move forward.

  Howard Bragman

  Country, Sorry, Party

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• I am particularly proud of my contributions in recent cases in which the government has argued in the Supreme Court that racial and ethnic quotas should not be allowed and that the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.

  Samuel Alito

  Government, Abortion, Doe

  Samuel Alito's letter (1985), as quoted in "Alito denied that Constitution protected abortion" by Bill Mears, www.cnn.com. November 15, 2005.

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• Twenty-six years ago the highest court in this land did an incredible thing. They issued a Supreme Court decision that really boils down to one simple and profoundly evil idea: They said that our unborn children have no rights that the rest of us are bound to respect. And when they made that decision they unleashed on America an unbelievable event that has undermined who we are and what we believe.

  Gary Bauer

  Children, Believe, Simple

  "Bauer officially jumps into 2000 race". www.cnn.com. April 21, 1999.

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• the audience is the controlling factor in the actor's life. It is practically infallible, since there is no appeal from its verdict. It is a little like a supreme court composed of irresponsible minors.

  Agnes Repplier

  Actors, Littles, Theater

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• After the Reagan years, there were only three people of color in the Republican Party. Their slogan was 'Republicans - the Other White Meat.' George [H.] Bush tried to dispel the 'whites only' image of his party, often referring to his Mexican-American grandkids as 'the little brown ones over there,' and nominated Clarence Uncle Thomas to the Supreme Court.

  Kate Clinton

  Uncles, Party, Color

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• The United States Supreme Court, once a reliable if ultimate recourse for progressive and even revolutionary grievances, has become a retrograde wellspring for enormous economic and social distress.

  June Jordan

  Law, Justice, United States

  June Jordan (1992). “Technical Difficulties: African-American Notes on the State of the Union”, Pantheon

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