John Roberts Law Quotations

I think judicial temperament is a willingness to step back from your own committed views of the correct jurisprudential approach and evaluate those views in terms of your role as a judge. It's the difference between being a judge and being a law professor.

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.

If we're relying on a decision from a German judge about what our Constitution means, no president accountable to the people appointed that judge and no Senate accountable to the people confirmed that judge. And yet he's playing a role in shaping the law that binds the people in this country. I think that's a concern that has to be addressed.

If we're relying on a German judge about what our Constitution means, no president accountable to the people appointed that judge and no Senate accountable to the people confirmed that judge. And yet, he's playing a role in shaping the law that binds the people in this country.

Senator, I believe that no one is above the law in our system, and that includes our president,

Senator, I believe that no one is above the law under our system, and that includes the president. The president is fully bound by the law, the constitution and statutes.

I look to the law books, ... I don't look to the Bible.

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.

Roe v. Wade is the settled law of the land, ... It's a little more than settled.

The Romans had been able to post their laws on boards in public places, confidant that enough literate people existed to read them; far into the Middle Ages, even kings remained illiterate.

be vigilant to protect the independence and integrity of the Supreme Court, and I will work to ensure that it upholds the rule of law and safeguards those liberties that make this land one of endless possibilities for all Americans.

I know there are people of strongly held views on both sides of the issue ... And I know that the responsibility of a judge confronting this issue is to decide the case according to the rule of law consistent with the precedents, not to take sides in the dispute as a matter of policy, but to decide it according to the law.

I'm certainly not an expert in the area and haven't followed and have no way of evaluating the relative effectiveness of the law as amended or the law as it was prior to 1982.

The biggest problem with the Sunshine Law is there are no penalties for violations, Wherever there?s a penalty, there will be two or three loopholes.

allows the judge to incorporate his or her own personal preferences, cloak them with the authority of precedent -- because they're finding precedent in foreign law -- and use that to determine the meaning of the Constitution.

We want to do everything in our power to make things easier for them, ... When you join law enforcement, you become part of a close family. You all take the same oath to do the same job, and you all pitch in to help each other.