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Quotes by Judge
"Lawyers spend a great deal of their time shoveling smoke."
49
"But it is strange how many rational beings believe the ultimate truths of the universe to be reducible to patterns on a blackboard."
49
"Statutes authorizing unreasonable searches were the core concern of the framers of the 4th Amendment."
48
"The Establishment Clause prohibits government from making adherence to a religion relevant in any way to a person's standing in the political community."
48
"Certitude is not the test of certainty. We have been cocksure of many things that were not so."
48
"The principle inherent in the clause that prohibits pointless infliction of excessive punishment when less severe punishment can adequately achieve the same purposes invalidates the punishment."
48
"The flaw in the statute is that in all its applications, it operates on a fundamentally mistaken premise that high solicitation costs are an accurate measure of fraud."
48
"I think people need to commit to one another before they commit to bringing children into the world because that's the optimum arrangement for children, not to take anything at all away from women who have to rear their children by themselves."
47
"Although I grew up in very modest and challenging circumstances, I consider my life to be immeasurably rich."
47
"Yes, I will bring the understanding of a woman to the Court, but I doubt that alone will affect my decisions."
47
"There are loads of countries that have nice written constitutions like ours. But there aren't loads of countries where they're followed."
47
"Why in the world would you have it interpreted by nine lawyers?"
46
"The censor's sword pierces deeply into the heart of free expression."
46
"A moment's insight is sometimes worth a life's experience."
46
"The courts of this country should not be the places where resolution of disputes begins. They should be the places where the disputes end after alternative methods of resolving disputes have been considered and tried."
46
"The risk to be percieved defines the duty to be obeyed."
46
"I know Dr. Kennedy and I know Coral Ridge Ministries. I have no connection."
46
"I am an ordinary person who has been blessed with extraordinary opportunities and experiences. Today is one of those experiences."
46
"Nor does the idea of a moral order asserting itself against attack or want of conformity answer in full to our feelings regarding the tragic character."
46
"Nothing is so commonplace has the wish to be remarkable."
46
"Right knows no boundaries, and justice no frontiers; the brotherhood of man is not a domestic institution."
45
"Before this distinguished assembly and the world, the bells today proclaim the joyous tidings of the completion of this quietly soaring tower."
45
"A man is usually more careful of his money than of his principles."
45
"Most of the things we do, we do for no better reason than that our fathers have done them or our neighbors do them, and the same is true of a larger part than what we suspect of what we think."
44
"A man has to live with himself, and he should see to it that he always has good company."
44
"Prior to any questioning, the person must be warned that he has a right to remain silent, that any statement he does make may be used as evidence against him and that he has a right to the presence of an attorney, either retained or appointed."
44
"I'm a judge. It seemed to me that it was critical to try to take action to stem the criticism and help people understand that in the constitutional framework, it's terribly important not to have a system of retaliation against decisions people don't like."
44
"Beware how you take away hope from any human being."
44
"I could see flames from the windows of my chambers. For the next three or four days we had major rioting here in Washington and I stayed at the court day and night."
44
"There is no requirement that police stop a person who enters a police station and states that he wishes to confess a crime or a person who calls the police to offer a confession because volunteered statements of any kind are not barred by the 5th Amendment."
44
"Ending racial discrimination in jury selection can be accomplished only by eliminating peremptory challenges entirely."
44
"Carve every word before you let it fall."
44
"Consider the Essay as a political pamphlet on the Revolution side, and the fact that it was the Whig gospel for a century, and you will see its working merit."
44
"Proceeding further, to inquire whether the facts related by the Four Evangelists are proved by competent and satisfactory evidence, we are led, first, to consider on which side lies the burden of establishing the credibility of the witnesses."
43
"We might not object to the statement that Lear deserved to suffer for his folly, selfishness and tyranny; but to assert that he deserved to suffer what he did suffer is to do violence not merely to language but to any healthy moral sense."
43
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