Stephen Breyer Quotes & Sayings

Open mindedness is not blank mindedness, open mindedness is being prepared to change your view when presented with a better set of proofs and arguments. — Stephen Breyer

The best clue to what a person thinks is what he says. — Stephen Breyer

Independence means you decide according to the law and the facts. — Stephen Breyer

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

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. — Stephen Breyer

Judges are appointed often through the political process. — Stephen Breyer

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. — Stephen Breyer

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

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

Independence doesn't mean you decide the way you want. — Stephen Breyer

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

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

I think whether you are a judge on my court or whether you are a judge on a court of appeals or any court, and lawyers too - and if you're interested in law yourself, you'll be in the same situation - you have a text that isn't clear. If the text is clear, you follow the text. If the text isn't clear, you have to work out what it means. And that requires context. — Stephen Breyer

This understanding, underlying constitutional interpretation since the New Deal, reflects the Constitution's demands for structural flexibility sufficient to adapt substantive laws and institutions to rapidly changing social, economic, and technological conditions. — Stephen Breyer

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

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. — Stephen Breyer

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

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

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. — Stephen Breyer

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? — Stephen Breyer

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

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. — Stephen Breyer

The advantages? Exercise, no parking problems, gas prices, it's fun. An automobile is expensive. You have to find a place to park and it's not fun. So why not ride a bicycle? I recommend it. — Stephen Breyer

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

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

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

I mean, there are lots of people who get married who can't have children. To take a state that does allow adoption and say-there, what is the justification for saying no gay marriage? Certainly not the one you said, is it? — Stephen Breyer

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

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. — Stephen Breyer

Active liberty is particularly at risk when law restricts speech directly related to the shaping of public opinion, for example, speech that takes place in areas related to politics and policy-making by elected officials. That special risk justifies especially strong pro-speech judicial presumptions. It also justifies careful review whenever the speech in question seeks to shape public opinion, particularly if that opinion in turn will affect the political process and the kind of society in which we live. — Stephen Breyer