Stephen Breyer Quotes (41 Quotes)


    There are loads of countries that have nice written constitutions like ours. But there aren't loads of countries where they're followed.

    he joked later, while being photographed in his garden, ''my job is to look stiff without being stiff.

    It doesn't help to fight crime to put people in prison who are innocent.

    I have to, of course, describe the views of those who disagree with my approach.

    Well it's fairly important that everyone have a lawyer and so we have a system that you can't convict a person without a lawyer, even if he's guilty.


    I thought that that was an effort to inject a popular element, a democratic element into the selection of a person who, once he is selected and confirmed, is beyond electoral control.

    Once you're in a system where there are contributions being made, it's certainly not the case that everybody expects something back.

    a hallmark of American justice in the last 30 years.

    People have to be educated and they have to stick to it. If people lose that respect, an awful lot is lost.

    Independence doesn't mean you decide the way you want.

    You can have many different selection systems, but the bottom line has to be a system that, once the judge takes office that judge will feel that he or she is to decide the case without reference to the popular thing or the popular will of the moment.

    Breyer said, ''that certainly looks to text, certainly looks to history, certainly looks to tradition and precedent -- but that also emphasizes heavily the purpose of this particular provision and the consequences as viewed in terms of the purposes, is more likely to get at what this law is about, what area of human life it is seeking to affect and how. That's what I think the essence of law is.

    And in that confirmation process, I sat for 17 hours in front of a senate judiciary committee.

    Would I want to be judged by whether or not I was popular Wouldn't I want to be judged on what was true as opposed to what might be popular

    Nobody wants a judge to be subject to the political whim of the moment.

    It's important to every American that the law protect his or her basic liberty.

    Remember, 100 or 150 years ago, you could walk down the street, your neighbors might see you, they'd watch what you do,

    We are selected, but I grew up in California and in San Francisco and there was a system of electing judges.

    This Texas display has stood apparently uncontested for nearly two generations. That experience helps us understand that as a practical matter of degree this display is unlikely to prove divisive,

    Judges are appointed often through the political process.

    We developed a system of protecting human liberty such that judges and independent judges are a necessary part of that protection.

    Consequences are highly relevant, ... Not just any consequences but consequences in light of a constitutional value. . . . You can be wooden and mechanical, and the price you'll pay is a law that won't fulfill the basic principles of the Constitution, which is to help people live together in a democratic society.

    And the problem is once you get into this campaign business and begin to have a lot of money, then the person on the bench begins to think - what's going to happen if I decide the case this way or that way?

    Speed in reaching a final decision may help create legal certainty,

    We can speak about the institution, but ultimately the bar is the group that both is in touch with the public on the one hand and understands the judicial institution on the other.

    I mean those people who are interested in good government will certainly contribute in order to make certain there's some counter-balance to those whose interests in good government is less.

    To threaten the institution is to threaten fair administration of justice and protection of liberty.

    And if a judge is going to be criticized for letting off a person and it turns out that person was innocent, that would be a pretty bad criticism.

    Virginia is now pursuing an execution schedule that leaves less time for argument and for court consideration than the court's rules provide for ordinary cases.

    Every citizen has to figure out what kind of government he or she wants.

    At least there's a political input, but when you put on the robe, at that point the politics is over.

    The judge was authorized to determine for sentencing purposes whether crack, as well as cocaine, was involved,

    I think it shows that if you have one group of people doing it, you'll get another group of people doing it.

    You will read in the newspaper more often about federal courts, but the law that affects people, the trials that affect human beings are by and large in the state courts.

    Ultimately, the question of campaign contributions will be decided by the public.

    Well, just that there would be somebody in the office and the voters - it was more or less an understanding in the entire community, as long as that person was doing a good job on the merits, nobody was going to run against him.

    But the wonderful thing about human memory is, it forgets, ... And so you always have another chance. People don't remember after a time. The computer remembers forever. There it is picture recorded.

    But once the person is selected, at that point that person is independent.

    Independence means you decide according to the law and the facts.

    The court has found no single mechanical formula that can accurately draw the constitutional line in every case,

    At the same time, we do live in a democracy. And for that reason I think it is appropriate to have some element of public control.


    More Stephen Breyer Quotations (Based on Topics)


    Law & Regulation - Liberty & Freedom - People - Government - Fame - Politics - Time - Constitution - Committees - Democracy - Purposes - Countries - Money & Wealth - Communities - America - History - Garden - Value - Efforts - View All Stephen Breyer Quotations

    Related Authors


    Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. - William Rehnquist - William J. Brennan - William Blackstone - Sonia Sotomayor - Joshua Willis Alexander - Horace Gray - Giovanni Falcone - Clarence Thomas - Anthony Kennedy


Authors (by First Name)

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M
N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

Other Inspiring Sections