John Roberts Judges Quotations

Judges have to have the humility to recognize that they operate within a system of precedent, shaped by other judges equally striving to live up to the judicial oath.

No, I don't think there is. Sometimes it's hard to give meaning to a constitutional term in a particular case. But you don't look to your own values and beliefs. You look outside yourself to other sources. This is the basis for ? you know, judges wear black robes because it doesn't matter who they are as individuals. That's not going to shape their decision. It's their understanding of the law that will shape their decision.

No, I don't think there is, ... You look outside yourself, to other sources. This is the basis for judges (to) wear black robes, because it doesn't matter who they are as individuals . . . it's their understanding of the law that will shape the decision.

I come before the committee with no agenda. I have no platform. Judges are not politicians who can promise to do certain things in exchange for votes,

I have been fortunate for the past two years to serve on a court in which all of the judges ... put aside those (political) ties and those views and become judges all focused on the same mission of vindicating the rule of law. And if you look at the decisions of the D.C. Circuit, you'll see that we're almost always unanimous. We almost always come out the same way and to the extent there are disagreements, they don't shape up along political lines,

Judges and justices are servants of the law, not the other way around. Judges are like umpires. Umpires don't make the rules; they apply them,

Judges are like umpires. Umpires don't make the rules. They apply them.

Judges are umpires. I will remember it is my job to call balls and strikes, and not pitch or bat.

Judges do not have a commission to solve society's problems, ... their role, while important, is limited.

Judges wear black robes because it doesn't matter who they are as individuals. That's not going to shape their decision. It's their understanding of the law that will shape their decision.

It is not a process under which senators get to say, 'I want you to rule this way and this way and this way, and if you'll tell me that you'll rule this way and this way and this way, I'll vote for you, ... That's not a bargaining process. Judges are not politicians. They cannot promise to do certain things in exchange for votes.

An important function of the Supreme Court is to provide guidance, .. As a lower court judge, I appreciate clear guidance from the Supreme Court.

I have no platform. Judges are not politicians who can promise to do certain things in exchange for votes, ... Judges are like umpires. Umpires don't make the rules; they apply them.

I'm not standing for election and it is contrary to the role of judges in our society to say that this judge should go on the bench because this is his or her position and those are the positions they're going to apply,

The Framers were not the sort of people, having fought a revolution to get the right of self-government, to sit down and say, 'Let's take all the difficult issues before us and let's have the judges decide them.'