Supreme Court Justice

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Campaign promises are-by long democratic tradition-the least binding form of human commitment.

Antonin Scalia

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Scalia, Antonin. United States, Supreme Court. Republican Party of Minnesota v. White. United States Reports, vol. 534, 17 June 2002, pp. 765-821. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/536/765/.

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Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the Constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consist with the letter and spirit of the Constitution, are Constitutional.

John Marshall

McCulloch v. Maryland

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Marshall, John. United States, Supreme Court. McCulloch v. Maryland. United States Reports, vol. 17, 5 Mar. 1819, pp. 316-437. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/17/316/.

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This is a circus. It's a national disgrace. And from my standpoint as a black American, as far as I'm concerned, it is a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves.

Clarence Thomas

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On the Senate hearings on his nomination to the Supreme Court.

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Thomas, Clarence. Quoted in The New York Times. 12 Oct. 1991. Originally a statement before the Senate Judiciary Committee. 11 Oct. 1991, Washington, DC, USA.

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I know it when I see it.

Potter Stewart

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Jacobellis v. Ohio

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On the nature of "obscenity".

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Stewart, Potter. United States, Supreme Court. Jacobellis v. Ohio. United States Reports, vol. 378, 22 June 1964, pp. 184-204. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/378/184/.

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The people made the Constitution, and the people can unmake it. It is the creature of their will, and lives only by their will.

John Marshall

Cohens v. Virginia

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Marshall, John. United States, Supreme Court. Cohens v. Virginia. United States Reports, vol. 19, 4 Mar. 1821, pp. 264-448. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/19/264/.

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We expect that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today.

Sandra Day O'Connor

Grutter v. Bollinger

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O'Connor, Sandra Day. United States, Supreme Court. Grutter v. Bollinger. United States Reports, vol. 539, 23 June 2003, pp. 306-395. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/539/306/.

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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.

Earl Warren

Miranda v. Arizona

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Warren, Earl. United States, Supreme Court. Miranda v. Arizona. United States Reports, vol. 384, 13 June 1966, pp. 436-545. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/384/436/.

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Legislation is powerless to eradicate racial instincts or to abolish distinctions based upon physical differences, and the attempt to do so can only result in accentuating the difficulties of the present situation.

Henry Billings Brown

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Plessy v. Ferguson

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Brown, Henry Billings. United States, Supreme Court. Plessy v. Ferguson. United States Reports, vol. 163, 18 May 1896, pp. 537-564. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/163/537/.

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The only prize much cared for by the powerful is power. The prize of the general is not a bigger tent, but command.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

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Original Citation

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr. "Law and the Court." Dinner of the Harvard Law Association of New York. 15 Feb. 1913, New York, NY, USA.

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Current Citation

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr. "Law and the Court." The Essential Holmes: Selections from the Letters, Speeches, Judicial Opinions, and Other Writings of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr, edited by Richard A. Posner. University of Chicago Press, 1997.

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Of that freedom one may say that it is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom.

Benjamin Cardozo

Palko v. Connecticut

On freedom of thought and speech.

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Cardozo, Benjamin Nathan. United States, Supreme Court. Palko v. Connecticut. United States Reports, vol. 302, 6 Dec. 1937, pp. 319-329. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/302/319/.

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In a democratic society like ours, relief must come through an aroused popular conscience that sears the conscience of the people's representatives.

Felix Frankfurter

Baker v. Carr

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Frankfurter, Felix. Dissenting Opinion. Baker v. Carr. United States Reports, vol. 369, 26 Mar. 1962, pp. 266-349. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/369/186/.

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The law embodies the story of a nation's development through many centuries, and it cannot be dealt with as if it contained only the axioms and corollaries of a book of mathematics.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

The Common Law

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Original Citation

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr. "Lecture 1: Early Forms of Liability." Lowell Lectures. 23 Nov. 1880, Lowell Institute, Lowell, MA, USA.

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Current Citation

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr. The Common Law. Belknap Press, 2009, lecture 1.

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The constitutional guarantees require, we think, a federal rule that prohibits a public official from recovering damages for a defamatory falsehood relating to his official conduct unless he proves that the statement was made with "actual malice"—that is, with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.

William J. Brennan, Jr.

New York Times Co. v. Sullivan

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Brennan, William J, Jr. United States, Supreme Court. New York Times Co. v. Sullivan. United States Reports, vol. 376, 9 Mar. 1964, pp. 254-305. supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/376/254/.

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We are under a Constitution, but the Constitution is what the judges say it is.

Charles Evans Hughes

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Hughes, Charles Evans. Speech before the Chamber of Commerce. 3 May 1907, Elmira, NY, USA.

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They conferred, as against the Government, the right to be let alone—the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men.

Louis Brandeis

Olmstead v. United States

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Brandeis, Louis. Dissenting Opinion. Olmstead v. United States. United States Reports, vol. 277, 4 June 1928, pp. 471-485. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/277/438/.

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The Constitution, in all its provisions, looks to an indestructible Union composed of indestructible States.

Salmon P. Chase

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Texas v. White

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Chase, Salmon P. United States, Supreme Court. Texas v. White. United States Reports, vol. 74, 12 Apr. 1869, pp. 700-743. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/74/700/.

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We hold that obscenity is not within the area of constitutionally protected speech or press.

William J. Brennan, Jr

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Brennan, William J., Jr. United States, Supreme Court. Roth v. United States. United States Reports, vol. 354, 24 June 1957, pp. 476-514. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/354/476/.

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And, precisely because it is our flag that is involved, one's response to the flag-burner may exploit the uniquely persuasive power of the flag itself. We can imagine no more appropriate response to burning a flag than waving one's own, no better way to counter a flag burner's message than by saluting the flag that burns, no surer means of preserving the dignity even of the flag that burned than by—as one witness here did—according its remains a respectful burial. We do not consecrate the flag by punishing its desecration, for in doing so we dilute the freedom that this cherished emblem represents.

William J. Brennan, Jr.

Texas v. Johnson

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Brennan, William J, Jr. United States, Supreme Court. Texas v. Johnson. United States Reports, vol. 491, 21 June 1989, pp. 397-439. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/491/397/.

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Man is, or should be, woman's protector and defender. The natural and proper timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex evidently unfits it for many of the occupations of civil life. The Constitution of the family organization, which is founded in the divine ordinance, as well as the nature of things, indicates the domestic sphere as that which properly belongs to the domain and functions of womanhood... The paramount destiny and mission of woman are to fulfil the noble and benign offices of wife and mother. This is the law of the Creator.

Joseph P. Bradley

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Bradwell v. State of Illinois

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Bradley, Joseph P. United States, Supreme Court. Bradwell v. State of Illinois. United States Reports, vol. 83 (16 Wall.), 15 Apr. 1873, pp. 130-142, https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/83/130/.

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It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error.

Robert H. Jackson

American Communications Assn. v. Douds

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Jackson, Robert H. United States, Supreme Court. American Communications Assn. v. Douds. United States Reports, vol. 339, 8 May 1950, pp. 382-453. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/339/382/.

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