Ruth Ginsburg Quotes (28 Quotes)

In accord with long-standing norm, every member of the current Supreme Court declined to furnish such information. The line each justice drew in response to pre-confirmation questioning is crucial to the health of the federal judiciary.

The First Amendment requires us to be vigilant in making these judgments, to guard against undue hindrances to political conversations and the exchange of ideas,

It's almost like a trust that we are bound to preserve the institution and give it to our successors in the same good condition that we received it.

It's an extraordinary act, I think, to withdraw jurisdiction from this court in a pending case.

I assumed, albeit incorrectly, that anyone with a pulse who stood in opposition was a shoe-in. These polls, however, made me realize just how wrong my assumptions were.

We hold that back wages are subject to ... taxes prescribed for the year in which the wages are in fact paid,

I do not know of any case where we have impugned a state supreme court the way you are doing in this case. I mean, in case after case, we have said we owe the highest respect to what the ... state supreme court says is the state's law,

Promoting active liberty does not mean allowing the majority to run roughshod over minorities. It calls for taking special care that all groups have a chance to fully participate in society and the political process. Discussing the recent University of Michigan affirmative action cases, Justice Breyer contrasts an opinion by Clarence Thomas, arguing that the Equal Protection Clause requires government actions to be colorblind, ... long denied full citizenship.

This case, here for the second time, raises a question 'of profound importance to the nation. Nothing the government has yet done purports to retract the assertion of executive power Padilla protests.

Politics is rearing its head like it has not done before,

We fail to see why Congress, having expressly endorsed an expensive surveillance role for EPA, ... would then implicitly preclude the agency from verifying substantive compliance.

We do not agree that the latter follows from the former like the night, the day,

Extra hard not to die in the near future.

I do not want to give here any hints. I would not like to answer that question. I cannot say anything more than I have already said.

You are well aware that I come to these proceedings to be judged as a judge. ... It would be wrong for me to say or to preview in this legislative chamber how I would cast my vote on questions the Supreme Court may be called upon to decide. ... Judges in our ... system are bound to decide concrete cases, not abstract issues. ... A judge sworn to decide impartially can offer no forecasts, no hints. ... It would display disdain for the entire judicial process.

I wonder why law schools waited so long to welcome women

We're told these methods are less gentle to the patient,

everyone on this court assumed that assisted suicide was a matter for the states.

perhaps unparalleled in the court's history.

this is a person whose job includes being candid, serving justice, serving truth.

Justices in their decision noted the Constitution specified copyrights are to extend for only limited times, ... gives Congress wide leeway to proscribe 'limited times' for copyright protection.

Rehnquist was genuinely popular with his colleagues, as the statements released by the court's public information office vividly conveyed. He was the fairest, most efficient boss I have ever had, ... a brave, intelligent man.

This court should not short-circuit the normal review process absent a showing of irreparable harm stronger than that presented here,

We don't always agree with the politics of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of the U.S. Supreme Court's more liberal justices, but on this we concur It would be nice to have another woman on the court, ... but not any woman.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had made a similar point in an April speech. We live in an age in which the fundamental principles to which we subscribe -- liberty, equality and justice for all -- are encountering extraordinary challenges, ... But it is also an age in which we can join hands with others who hold to those principles and face similar challenges.

The Ten Commandments are a powerful statement of the covenant God made with his people,

Well, there are all kinds of hearts. There are bleeding hearts and there are hard hearts, ... She has a different value system than I do. But that doesn't mean she doesn't have a good heart.

But the greatest dissents do become court opinions and gradually over time their views become the dominant view.