Richard Garnett Quotations

I wouldn't imagine him jumping in to cut off Justice (Ruth Bader) Ginsburg or Justice Scalia if they are talking too long.

Liberal justices like Thurgood Marshall and Ruth Bader Ginsburg think as highly of him as someone like Clarence Thomas. I think that's a testament to the respect he enjoys.

He'll be much more likely to use crisp, technical, very careful legal analysis,

I don't think he was consciously trying to help the White House by announcing something now, but it does make things easier for the president. It simplifies things because he doesn't feel like he has to make both conservatives and moderates happy with two picks. The one vacancy will allow him to focus on the right person he sees for the job.

When he was first on the court, he was challenging the dominant way of thinking. But when he became chief, he decided his role was different. The chief has a stewardship obligation, in his view, and is the face of the court and caretaker of the institution. That's bound to change the way you do things.

He was a follower. He got tricked easily.

He was fabulous, ... It was kind of like, when the word got out that Roberts was arguing, people would drop what they were doing and go watch because it was going to watch a real craftsman.

He loves the court, ... So he must have felt, 'If I can stay on the job with a reasonable expectation I can maintain my health, then why not.'

I think, actually, if you want to know where Roberts is on a lot of stuff, Rehnquist is a good place to start,

I think he's happy now just getting his work done, and the work of the other justices done. He takes that leadership role seriously.

There are no airs about this guy, no pretension,

The Democrats won't have the votes to sustain a filibuster even if they wanted to, ... I think people will vote against him, even though they know he's going to be confirmed, because the polarization's gotten worse. But that's unfortunate, because whatever one's ideological views, based on his merits he is one of the best qualified nominees in 50 years.

Through most of our history a lot of Americans would have been freaked out by the idea of more than one, ... For a long time there was the one Catholic seat and one Jewish seat.

Even if the president wasn't up to it in alligators and his approval rating was 90 percent, John Roberts simply is the best guy for the chief justice's job. I think the thought of having John Roberts join him on the court kept the chief going despite his cancer. I think he's probably smiling about it now.

really did dramatically reshape the conversation about federal power.

This year, the whole court seems to be willing to go along with clear, concise, yet not very sweeping decisions. Some of these cases had the potential to be controversial, but they are focusing on the issues they agree on.

It's not the usual thing, but it doesn't strike me as being troubling. It would be a mistake to read it as payback.

It's actually kind of a recent idea that in order to judge a nominee, you had to have tons and tons of paper, ... For most of history it was, you know, someone's nominated, probably a friend of the president ... You had hearings, and in the hearings you asked some questions, and the questions gave you the answers, and that was it. No one asked about how you were going to rule in Roe v. Wade, how you were going to rule in Miranda, whatever.

It's been awhile since the Supreme Court had any new members, ... And one thing we've seen is that when the Court gets a new member, no matter what that member's views are, it sometimes tends to change the dynamics. When Justice Thomas came on the Court, Justice Souter started voting differently.

he's not going to be a pushover or a shrinking violet.

He's not pacing the floor, ruminating on his future. He's focused on doing the court's business, making sure the other justices do their business.

Before Chief Justice Rehnquist, it really was like nine scorpions in a bottle.

And if it comes to a point where he says, 'I can't do the job,' then I think he'll just quit. But we don't know if he's at that point yet.