Stephen Breyer quotes

Stephen Breyer is an American judge and legal scholar, best known for serving as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. His judicial philosophy emphasized pragmatism, consensus, and a careful balancing of competing interests. He has played a significant role in shaping modern constitutional law in the United States. Here are 23 of his quotes:

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

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

Stephen Breyer

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

Stephen Breyer

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

Stephen Breyer

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

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

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

Stephen Breyer

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

Stephen Breyer

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

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

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

Stephen Breyer

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

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

Judges are appointed often through the political process.

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

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

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

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

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

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