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Quotes by Judge

"A person's mere propinquity to others independently suspected of criminal activity does not give rise to probable cause to search that person."


"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."


"The framers of the Constitution were so clear in the federalist papers and elsewhere that they felt an independent judiciary was critical to the success of the nation."

"The law regards man as man, and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved."

"Dissents are appeals to the brooding spirit of the law, to the intelligence of another day."

"The enforcement of the law cannot depend on the justice of a cause or one man's conscience."

"The lawyer has not reached the height of his vocation who does not find therein... scope for a peculiar but genuine artistic function."

"To be seventy years young is sometimes for more cheerful and hopeful than to be forty years old."

"Defendants are being evaluated based on numerical grid without any aggravating circumstances being considered. The effect has been to transfer the disparity from the judge to the prosecutor allowing for a great deal of leeway on indictments."


"Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging."

"Shakespeare very rarely makes the least attempt to surprise by his catastrophes. They are felt to be inevitable, though the precise way in which they will be brought about is not, of course, foreseen."

"In less than eighteen months, it prepared a first draft which it submitted to the General Assembly and which, at the end of one hundred sessions of elevated, often impassioned discussion, was adopted in the form of thirty articles on December 10, 1948."


"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."

"Even as someone who's labeled a conservative - I'm a Republican I'm black, I'm heading up this organization in the Reagan administration - I can say that conservatives don't exactly break their necks to tell blacks that they're welcome."


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

"Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself."

"The Constitution is not a panacea for every blot upon the public welfare. Nor should this Court, ordained as a judicial body, be thought of as a general haven for reform movements."

"To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well."

"When France resolved, along with England, to lend assistance in the legitimate defense of Poland, the realization burst on us that a conflict of awesome proportions was inevitable."

"Pontius Pilate was the first great censor and Jesus Christ the first great victim of censorship."

"Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done."

"The most important political office is that of the private citizen."

"But what I believe is that if a person's individual rights or right to be a part of our economic system is violated under statute, we aggressively go after it. But we don't issue mandates to businesses that you've got to do this and you've got to do that."


"The real problem today is the ineffective and inconsistent oversight of professional boxing, which has led to continuing scandals, controversies, unethical practices, and unnecessary injuries and deaths in the sport."


"The basic premise of the Constitution was a separation of powers and a system of checks and balances because man was perceived as a fallen creature and would always yearn for more power."

"In requiring this candor and simplicity of mind in those who would investigate the truth of our religion, Christianity demands nothing more than is readily conceded to every branch of human science."

"The rule of joy and the law of duty seem to me all one."

"In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education."
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