Judiciary Quotations

None of the constitutional, legal or other principles bars me from returning to the judiciary, since the judiciary remains independent if the actors remain independent and fair.

President Ronald Reagan used to speak of the Soviet constitution, and he noted that it purported to grant wonderful rights of all sorts to people. But those rights were empty promises, because that system did not have an independent judiciary to uphold the rule of law and enforce those rights.

Jim, I'm not aware of any formal requests from the Senate Judiciary Committee for these kinds of documents.

My government has promised to comprehensively respect the independence of the judiciary.

This has not been a legislative process worthy of the Senate. Members of the Judiciary Committee, as I just said, were implored to save their amendments for the floor. Then, when we got here, we were told no amendments could be accepted.

The judiciary must be strengthened and released from political interference.

One of the most critical issues facing agriculture right now is the immigration reform that was just taken up by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. The House passed an immigration bill at the end of 2005 that could be very harmful to agriculture.

I would ask everyone not to prejudge the nominee. I would ask everyone to take a deep breath, to look at her background and qualifications and to give her a chance before the Judiciary Committee.

No decision has been made regarding a Senate Judiciary Committee rule that permits any committee member to request a one-week postponement of a committee vote.

One wants to engage the local judiciary and the local population. It is important that any kind of post-conflict justice be owned by the people affected.

No political decision to eliminate Saddam Hussein has been taken and the judiciary is independent.

My lawyers tell me that this is so frivolous, so over the top, so embarrassing to the judiciary that we ought to be able to get it out of here quickly,

I have heard nothing whatsoever about this alleged media speculation. This is a matter for the judiciary to decide on, not for politicians and Jalal should know better than that. Why should he make a statement on the accused to the public? The court, the judge need to decide on this.

led the federal judiciary with great dignity and clarity ... Through it all, he displayed honor and conviction, a love of the law and a love for his country.

Legislators of all people should understand that we have three branches of government, and the ultimate function of the judiciary is to determine cases under the constitution.

She led a very active life. She has contributed a lot not only to the Judiciary but to the political life of the country.

Frankly we haven't decided yet ... the Judiciary Committee has not completed its work.

Ghana embarked on independence as one of the richest tropical countries in the world, with an efficient civil service, an impartial judiciary and a prosperous middle class.

I expect the Judiciary Committee to conduct a fair and dignified hearing in a timely manner, followed by an up or down vote by the Senate.

China's traditional administration can't resolve the problem of the lack of human rights. I hope we can develop just procedures and create judiciary channels to preserve people's rights and interests in the future.

Because of the wide coalition of forces supporting the judges, it will only become more difficult for the government to suppress their activism. But whether or not the government will compromise on a draft judiciary law will be seen in the next few days.

He responded to questions for three days before the Judiciary Committee but he answered very few of them,

My personal discussions with Judge Roberts, as well as his responses during the Judiciary Committee hearings, have convinced me that he respects precedents and will apply the law and Constitution fairly,

My preference would be to get it over with this year, ... If the Judiciary Committee doesn't complete its work next week it would be pretty certain it would have to be carried over.

I resign for a fundamental reason. Against my strong advice, you decided to depart from your usual professional decision-making by accepting the invitation of the House Judiciary Committee to appear ... and serve as an aggressive advocate for the proposition that the evidence ... demonstrates that the president committed impeachable offenses.

Reduced to its essence, the government's argument is that the federal judiciary has no real power to review actions taken by the president in the name of fighting terrorism.

I will continue to work in Congress to reign-in the federal judiciary and return it to its constitutional function of applying the law, not legislating from the bench.

People are concerned that sometimes the courts move slower than the rest of society. A lot of the judiciary isn't as computer savvy and is hesitant to order it because they don't understand the ease with which it can be used, or they don't understand that the cost is relatively insignificant.

Our government is based upon a separation of powers and a system of checks and balances. The actions taken by the president undermine the very foundations of our country. We urge the relevant Congressional committees to investigate how the president abused his power as our chief executive. We applaud Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter for committing to hold oversight hearings. The American people deserve to know the truth.

I think Republicans are beginning to understand that a lot of people who ran for the judiciary are not actually philosophical Republicans, but they put an 'R' by their name once it became fashionable statewide to be a Republican.

I think, if you were to hold the vote today, she would not get a majority, either in the Judiciary Committee or on the floor,

I was incredibly saddened and disappointed that this person who had devoted her life to the legal profession never had a chance to go before the Senate Judiciary Committee and get a hearing,

Just look at the Judiciary Committee, ... You have some people on the Judiciary Committee who may well decide not to send the nomination to the floor, and now it all depends on what Democrats do.

We intend to submit a complete accounting of the pattern of evidentiary manipulation and misdirection employed by the independent counsel to the Judiciary Committee,

When Sonny came to Congress, I looked at him as just another Hollywood politician, ... Working together on the Judiciary Committee, I came to admire and respect him.

We believe the only way he can rectify this is by simply allowing the marriage amendment to come out of the Senate Judiciary Committee and come to the Senate floor for a fair and open and honest debate. That's all we're asking for.

We've been hopeful that the Legislature would pass a bill that's strong and achievable and responsible and that protects our children. We're very pleased with the work that House Judiciary has done.

There are no grounds for doubt about the efficiency of our judiciary and we therefore do not accept any appeals for international inquiries,

The Constitution is what the judges say it is.

We agreed that it is not possible for ministers to order the judiciary around.

The decision reflects the grim reality faced by the judiciary in Egypt.

We're going to make sure that we do this in a reasonable, rational and responsible way, and that requires us to go through the ... Judiciary Committee.

We applaud the five judiciary members who voted their conscience and took a principled position in opposition to the nomination of John Roberts to be Chief Justice of the United States. However, we are profoundly disappointed that the committee, as a whole, ignored compelling evidence against his nomination.

Beyond that, as this case could finish up before the judiciary panel, I can make no comment at this stage.

could have a tremendous impact on the judiciary well into the 21st century.

This will seriously undermine the independence of the country's judiciary as contemplated in the Constitution. This distorts the very purpose that inspired the creation of the Council: to ensure balance and moderation in decision-making affecting the judiciary.

I urge the White House to reconsider this initial decision, and to work cooperatively with Judiciary Committee Democrats so that the Senate can do its job more effectively,

You bet there'll be congressional hearings. I think both branches, the legislative branch and the judiciary branch, should look into this in depth, because this is a frightening event, that American citizens can expect that the executive branch on their own can decide whether to raid a home.

We see people like Senator Sessions, Senator Colburn, Senator Brownback all on the judiciary committee strong pro-lifer's voting for and encouraging good pro-life legislation.

As the record shows, I have supported every one of President Bush's nominees in the Judiciary Committee and on the Senate floor. I have never and would never apply any litmus test on the abortion issue and, as the record shows, I have voted to confirm Chief Justice (William) Rehnquist, Justice (Sandra Day) O'Connor, and Justice (Anthony) Kennedy and led the fight to confirm Justice (Clarence) Thomas.

I stand before the Court of the Judiciary because I've done my oath. I've kept my oath. I have acknowledged God as the moral foundation of our law,

The Supreme Court's verdicts show that, contrary to what the administration believes, we can have both security and liberty. Congress should now enact legislation that reflects the court's carefully balanced decisions on liberty and security. The Judiciary Committee ought to hold hearings immediately to begin the process of enacting legislation.

These reservations relate to the reliability and admissibility of evidence, constraints placed on the defense, and the independence of the judiciary from the executive,

The Senate and the Judiciary Committee can accomplish more in three cooperative hours than in three days or three weeks of disharmonious activity.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has been hard at work for over a month on comprehensive immigration reform. No bill before the committee proposes blanket amnesty. ... Border security is our main priority. We are working to merge the best of several proposals, and hopefully we can all agree that we must protect our borders, enforce the law, provide legal means for people to work in the United States, and fix a broken system.

The senators who want to serve on (the Judiciary Committee) tend to be very ideologically driven and know their own minds. They are either very strong progressives or very deep conservatives.

... withhold making any decision on whether or not to vote on articles of impeachment against President Clinton until the Judiciary Committee has reported any such articles.

with honor and distinction. ... He cared deeply for the independence of the judiciary in America's democracy.

What happened to me is not that important in the scheme of things, he said. But what is happening to the judiciary is tremendously important to all Americans. So, I'm not bitter - my spirits are good. My faith has not been weakened. God's grace indeed is sufficient.

What the judiciary has to decide on is what Carl Webb did, and looking at the video, it didn't look great for him.

The one-person, one-vote cases are the example of the judiciary being the most activist ever . . . it led to the redrawing of districts for almost every representative institute in the United States, from the smallest town council to congressional delegations.

The President's grand jury testimony and televised address have raised renewed speculation about future actions of the Congress and the House Judiciary Committee in particular. If the Independent Counsel has any substantial and credible information that may constitute grounds for impeachment, he has an explicit statutory duty to send a report to the House. If and when the Independent Counsel sends such a report, it is reasonable to expect answers to many as yet unanswered questions. It is our Constitutional duty to provide a fair, full and independent review of these facts in their proper context. Until then, we simply should not speculate about how the House would proceed.

I've been a member of the Judiciary Committee for 20 years, and chairman for 12 years. This is the first time that we've ever had a letter or any type of direct report from a member of the Supreme Court regarding misconduct taking place at the Supreme Court. It's extraordinary.

Although the House Judiciary Committee's base bill does not expand the Patriot Act in the unwise and unwarranted way the Senate Intelligence Committee proposed, it can and must be modified to ensure that Patriot powers are focused on terrorists and not ordinary Americans,

We think the demo was completely misleading. It's very troubling that Glaser would make these types of accusations, and it's troubling that the Judiciary Committee would provide a forum for these types of accusations.

this elections will be fair and free, supervised by the just Egyptian judiciary and monitored by the people, the civil society and its civic organizations.

This is an important moment in the confirmation process but it is unfortunate that the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee put partisan politics first in their vote today.

This is not a matter of whether David Kaufman is right or wrong: It's a matter of whether the judiciary has made a correct decision, and that's why we have appellate courts.

In March 2002 I took this issue to the Senate Judiciary Committee and also I filed it with the Department of Justice Inspector General's office.

In an eight-day span, the Ugandan government has seriously damaged its human rights reputation by riding roughshod over the rights of political opponents and the courts. The government has arrested the main presidential opponent, used commandos to intimidate the judiciary and banned all public protests, radio discussions and even posters on the subject.

I'm not sure if it will or not; it is up to each individual member of Congress to weigh, ... I've seen some of the reaction of some of my colleagues in Washington especially some of those on the Judiciary Committee. It does not appear to have made a big difference.

If there are back-room assurances and if there are back-room deals ... I think that's a matter that ought to be known by the Judiciary Committee and the American people,

I have no confidence he will serve as a real check on abuse of power so expansive with this administration. President Bush continues to believe he is above the law ... No one is above the law and we need a strong federal judiciary to protect against this abuse.

In response to the request of the speaker of the House, I have directed the House Judiciary Committee staff to begin a preliminary inquiry into the tactics employed in the seizure of Elian Gonzalez by federal authorities,

In our constitutional system the separation of powers is paramount -- the judiciary must remain independent of the executive. Federal courts can only be asked to exercise judicial functions.

If you held the vote today, she would not get a majority either in the Judiciary Committee or the floor, ... there are one or two who said they'd support her as of now.

Congress should now enact legislation that reflects the court's carefully balanced decisions on liberty and security. The Judiciary Committee ought to hold hearings immediately to begin the process of enacting legislation.

It's hardly surprising that the Alliance for Justice would join PFAW and NARAL in their obligatory opposition to Judge Roberts. Nan Aaron first attacked Judge Roberts a mere 27 minutes after he was nominated and today's Alliance for Justice announcement is the continuation of a false smear campaign borne of a political agenda in lock step with the Michael Moore wing of the Democrat party. As the Senate Judiciary Committee prepares for the confirmation hearings next week, one can only hope that Democrats will choose to approach the hearings in a dignified fashion and reject the over-hyped attacks by the far left.

I raised the judiciary issue with Gary Flowers yesterday before the Rocky decision was handed down and we agreed that we need to review it further.

He's one of the most interesting senators of our time. The fact that the right was so concerned about him as head of the Judiciary Committee made many people think he'd be very careful in scrutinizing Bush's appointees. But I guess he has proved unpredictable once again.

I didn't see it well enough to comment. We stay away from judiciary matters.

Clearly the way the judiciary is being used as an instrument against critics now is a real problem. It shows the problems for the trials and the problem for the United Nations to be mixed up with these people.

The review process was conducted in an extremely bipartisan manner. Minority members of the Judiciary Committee were responsible for the invitation of 1/3 of the witnesses who appeared.

Are we going to demand that they come before the Senate Judiciary Committee and renounce their faith before they become a federal judge?

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

The framers of our Constitution came up with two major contributions to the art of government. The first was the idea of an executive not dependent on the political support of the legislature. The second was the idea of the judiciary independent of the executive and legislative branches.

The Iraqi judiciary will sentence Saddam with what it sees suitable. There is no political order.

The judiciary as an institution is faced with a new threat. Democracy is something that you must learn each generation.

The judiciary in Connecticut has chosen to obey the laws it wants to obey, and to tell you folks you can't pass other laws. The judiciary has got to get out of the legislation business.

For conservatives, she is going to have to be very forthcoming in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee to give them the comfort level that they need, the confidence level that she is going to be a judge in the mold that the president indicated: a Scalia or Thomas.

It really gives the appearance that the judges have to answer to the politicians, and our democracy is set up very clearly to ensure the judiciary is independent from the executive branch.

a strong signal from the federal judiciary that Georgia has gone too far in impeding the right of citizens to vote.

Egyptians -- the community at large, the opposition parties and the judiciary -- have all agreed that they do not want anybody (else) to run their elections. Egypt is a proud country,

There was real progress today, enormous progress today. We knew from the beginning that you need a bipartisan proposal in order to pass the Senate. That appears to be what the Judiciary Committee is proposing.

It seems to me that all of our members have the right to digest the contents of the Judiciary report,

It's a big loss for the judiciary but a bigger loss for kids.

What's happened is that it's become an industry. The historical concept of the judiciary is that the government sets up judges, and that our government should provide (court) services.

It's actually a plus. Because it brings someone with some additional and new kinds of experience into a group of people whose lives have been pretty much consumed with working inside the judiciary and inside the law in a very tight-knit way.

there is scarcely anyone who believes that the required 67 senators would vote to convict the president on any of the four articles of impeachment approved by the House Judiciary Committee.

There's a legitimate concern among those who have really cared about the judiciary that she does not have a sufficient and well-formed philosophy of adjudication,