Stephen Breyer Quotes & Sayings

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

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

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

“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?”

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

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

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

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

“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.”

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