“The issue presented is whether the Federal Constitution confers a fundamental right upon homosexuals to engage in sodomy, and hence invalidates the laws of the many States that still make such conduct illegal, and have done so for a very long time.... Respondent would have us announce, as the Court of Appeals did, a fundamental right to engage in homosexual sodomy. This we are quite unwilling to do.” LongStillsStatesDoneLawIssuesLong TimeConstitutionFundamentalsCourtAppealsIllegalHomosexualUnwilling Author:Byron White
“The Court is most vulnerable and comes nearest to illegitimacy when it deals with judge-made constitutional law having little or no cognizable roots in the language or design of the Constitution.... There should be, therefore, great resistance to ... redefining the category of rights deemed to be fundamental. Otherwise, the Judiciary necessarily takes to itself further authority to govern the country without express constitutional authority.” ShouldLittlesMadeCountryLawLanguageDealsRightsDesignJudgingAuthorityRootsConstitutionFundamentalsCourtResistanceVulnerableCategoriesJudiciaryConstitutional LawRedefining Author:Byron White
“In my judgment the people of no nation can lose their liberty so long as a Bill of Rights like ours survives and its basic purposes are conscientiously interpreted, enforced and respected so as to afford continuous protection against old, as well as new, devices and practices which might thwart those purposes. I fear to see the consequences of the Court's practice of substituting its own concepts of decency and fundamental justice for the language of the Bill of Rights as its point of departure in interpreting and enforcing that Bill of Rights.” PeopleWellsLongMightLawPurposeLanguageNationsLosesJusticeLibertyPracticeRightsJudgmentConceptsConsequenceConstitutionFundamentalsBillsCourtProtectionDevicesDecencyDepartureBill Of RightsInterpreting Author:Hugo Black
“That's the fundamental question. Do we have a check and balance system? Do we have three equal branches or do we have one supreme branch, not just the Supreme Court? That's the fundamental question.” ThreeBalanceEqualFundamentalsCourtSupremeChecksBranchesSupreme Court Author:Mike Huckabee
“We must use a judicial, rather than a political, standard to evaluate [a nominee's] fitness for the Supreme Court. That standard must be based on the fundamental principle that judges interpret and apply but do not make law.” UseLawPoliticalPrinciplesJudgingStandardsFundamentalsCourtSupremeSupreme CourtEvaluateJudicialFundamental Principles Author:Orrin Hatch
“To allow the policy question of same-sex marriage to be considered and resolved by a select, patrician, highly unrepresentative panel of nine is to violate a principle even more fundamental than no taxation without representation: no social transformation without representation.” SocialSexDecisionPrinciplesPolicyTransformationFundamentalsCourtNineRepresentationTaxationRulingGay MarriageDissentSelectMeltingCourt DecisionSocial TransformationTaxation Without Representation Author:Antonin Scalia
“This is a time when the protections of Americans' liberties are directly at risk, as are the checks and balances that have served to constrain abuses of power for more than 200 years. The Supreme Court is relied upon by all of to us protect our fundamental rights.” YearsLibertyRightsRiskBalanceProtectAbuseFundamentalsCourtProtectionSupremeChecksSupreme CourtAbuse Of PowerConstrainFundamental Rights Author:Patrick Leahy
“In Kashmir, rights relating to life, liberty, dignity of the people, and freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution, embodied in the fundamental covenants and enforceable by courts of law, have been gravely violated.” PeopleHas BeensLawLibertyRightsExpressionDignityConstitutionFundamentalsCourtCovenantFreedom Of ExpressionKashmir Author:Nyla Ali Khan
“The moral foundation of the society, the way we interact with each other is more fundamental than the Supreme Court.” WayMoralFoundationFundamentalsCourtSupremeSupreme Court Author:David Brooks
“Well-established Supreme Court precedents indicate that states - like the states of Washington and Minnesota - have no equal-protection rights of their own, nor can they vindicate equal-protection rights of their citizens. The same is true about being able to challenge alleged religious discrimination. This limitation on the states' authority to champion such claims is fundamental to our separation-of-powers architecture.” WellsStatesAbleChallengesReligiousRightsCitizensEqualAuthorityClaimsFundamentalsCourtProtectionArchitectureSeparationSupremeDiscriminationLimitationChampionSupreme CourtPrecedentMinnesotaSeparation Of PowersEqual Protection Author:David B. Rivkin
“Despite two decisions, in 2008 and 2010, by the U.S. Supreme Court unequivocally affirming that the Second Amendment to the Constitution guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms against infringement by the government, state legislatures continue to do just that - enact laws that significantly infringe this fundamental human right.” HumansTwoStatesGovernmentLawIndividualDecisionArmsBearsConstitutionFundamentalsCourtSupremeDespiteGuaranteesAmendmentsSupreme CourtLegislatureSecond AmendmentAffirmingState LegislaturesInfringement Author:Bob Barr
“I think that one of the most fundamental responsibilities is to give testimony in a court of law, to give it honestly and willingly.” ThinkingGivingLawResponsibilityHonestFundamentalsCourtHonestlyTestimony Author:Adlai E. Stevenson
“Equal justice under law is not merely a caption on the facade of the Supreme Court building, it is perhaps the most inspiring ideal of our society. It is one of the ends for which our entire legal system exists...it is fundamental that justice should be the same, in substance and availability, without regard to economic status.” InspirationalShouldEndsLawJusticeSocietyEconomicBuildingEqualIdealsRegardSocial JusticeFundamentalsCourtEqualityLawyerSupremeSubstanceOur SocietySupreme CourtCivil SocietyFacadeLegal SystemAvailabilityCaptionMost InspiringEqual JusticeEconomic Status Author:Lewis F. Powell, Jr.
“Just fundamental things - I played guard and I played forward, so you get into a position where you are pivoting out on the court.” PositionBasketballFundamentalsCourtWhere You Are Author:Oscar Robertson
“Those who won our independence believed that the final end of the state was to make men free to develop their faculties... They valued liberty both as an end and as a means. They believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty... that public discussion is a political duty; and that this should be a fundamental principle of the American government.” MenShouldMeanEndsStatesGovernmentPoliticalSecretLibertyPrinciplesDemocracyDutyIndependenceFundamentalsCourtFinalsDiscussionFacultyAmendmentsFree SpeechFreedom Of SpeechFirst AmendmentAmerican GovernmentFundamental PrinciplesLiberty And JusticeLiberty Of Speech Author:Louis D. Brandeis
“The interpretation of the laws is the proper and peculiar province of the courts. A constitution is, in fact, and must be regarded by the judges, as fundamental law. It therefore belongs to them to ascertain its meaning, as well as the meaning of any particular act proceeding from the legislative body. If there should happen to be an irreconcilable variance between the two, that which has the superior obligation and validity ought, of course, to be preferred; or, in other words, the Constitution ought to be preferred to the statute, the intention of the people to the intention of their agents.” PeopleIfsShouldWellsTwoFactsBodyHappensLawCoursesParticularJudgingOughtConstitutionFundamentalsCourtIntentionObligationSuperiorsAgentsInterpretationPeculiarProvincesValidityProceedingJudiciaryStatutesFederalist PapersVariance Book:The Essential Federalist: A New Reading of the Federalist Papers Source: The Essential Federalist: A New Reading of the Federalist Papers