David Garrow Quotes (23 Quotes)

The overarching theme in the questionnaire, I think, is trying too hard to gin herself up, ... She makes it sound like the White House counsel's office is the solicitor general, which it's not. She's presenting it as an office with major constitutional responsibility.

Judge Roberts has a combination of substantive expertise and stylistic smoothness ... He's likely to fly through this without anyone laying a fingernail on him.

I come away with a very strong impression that Roberts will be a much more classical judicial restraint justice than any of the current justices. He betrays no real policy agenda.

Politically or ideologically oriented evaluations of Chief Justice Rehnquist should not overlook what a successful and popular chief justice he was within the Court as the justices' presiding officer, ... The contrast between Rehnquist's undeniably happy Court and that of his predecessor, Warren E. Burger, could not have been greater.

The court will be in an extremely unsettled and uncertain situation until Justice O'Connor's successor is confirmed and seated, ... No one -- including the justices themselves -- will know for sure whether the nine justices who hear a case will be the same nine who will decide it.

In the short run, the 'federalism revolution' of the 1990s is undeniably his most significant substantive achievement. But whether these rulings will survive in the long run, or instead be reversed, remains to be seen. It's much more likely that the Rehnquist Court's surprisingly liberal rulings -- on abortion, on gay rights, on gender -- will actually represent the most indelible legacy.

The health exception is based on professional respect and regard for doctors. Health is anything a doctor says it is, and neither legislators nor judges should be redefining it. I don't think it can be abused.

It's a real, powerfully original argument the U. S. solicitor general is making here. And Roberts is not only indisputably the fifth and controlling vote so long as Kennedy agrees with him, Roberts will control how far the Court majority chooses to take this.

This court has been very aggressive in defining the bounds of the other branches, and Congress in particular, ... And that has to do with Rehnquist's vision as much as anybody's.

Prior to Roe , ... whether one could obtain a legal abortion in the face of an unwanted pregnancy was a crap shoot. For 30 years now, it's been a constitutionally guaranteed right.

For 30 years, ever since John Paul Stevens, there has been an unbroken pattern of naming sitting appellate judges,

Within the world of Austin and (Bush's) growing up in Texas, SMU is more than perfectly respectable, It certainly is above, say, Baylor in that sense, ... SMU may not quite be ranked by anybody with Duke, Vanderbilt, Emory or Tulane. But it is in that family even if not atop that family.

Much of her behavior of the past 15 years all the crass or embarrassing commercial uses of his name or image has its roots in the sense of privation she experienced when he was alive. Not only did they not have any money, but Doc did not believe in spending money on the family and the household. He would spend money on food, good hotels, good suits, but that was about it.

I very much think Sandra Day O'Connor will indeed remain a 'real' justice.

Much of the controversy about abortion is really stimulated by the interest groups on both sides of the political question, rather than by ordinary Americans. The American people and many political leaders have already made up their minds about legal abortion.

Almost certainly on the table here is an awful lot more than the federal partial-birth ban.

This is a case in which substantial damage could be done to abortion rights without anyone seriously being able to claim that Roe v. Wade is in danger.

A committed conservative with interpersonal skills equal to or superior to Rehnquist's would be a far more effective chief justice than a nominee of equal intellect who lacks those graces.

There are no real blockbuster cases on the docket so far. But there are a number of unusual cases out there, issues the justices want to revisit.

It is personal connections and relationships. And if you look back to a Franklin Roosevelt, a John Kennedy, they were products of that elite world,

The No. 1 thing is that this is the entire court - especially O'Connor - again trying to turn down the temperature on the issue and force both sides toward the middle. This is the court saying We don't want to give either side all or nothing. We're going to force you to split the loaf.

The phrasing of it is so atypical, almost original. I think it's an important indicator of what kind of justice he might be.

the serious constitutional heavy lifting is done in the Justice Department.