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Robert H. Jackson: 192 quotes4 likes

“But once a judicial opinion rationalizes such an order to show that it conforms to the Constitution, or rather rationalizes the Constitution to show that the Constitution sanctions such an order, the Court for all time has validated the principles of racial discrimination in criminal procedure, and of transplanting American citizens. The principle then lies about like a loaded weapon, ready for the hand of any authority that can bring forward a plausible claim of an urgent need. Every repetition imbeds that principle more deeply in our law and thinking, and expands it to new purposes.”

Robert H. Jackson

Judicial opinions, Korematsu v. United States (1944)

“It is hardly lack of due process for the Government to regulate that which it subsidizes.”

Robert H. Jackson

Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 131, 131 (1943)
Judicial opinions

“When the Court moved to Washington in 1800, it was provided with no books, which probably accounts for the high quality of early opinions.”

Robert H. Jackson

The Supreme Court in the American System of Government (1955), p. 30

“For a century every contest with the Supreme Court has ended in evading the basic inconsistency between popular government and judicial supremacy.”

Robert H. Jackson

Source: The Struggle for Judicial Supremacy: A Study in Crisis in American Power Politics (1941), P. vii

“I think that, under our system, it is time enough for the law to lay hold of the citizen when he acts illegally, or in some rare circumstances when his thoughts are given illegal utterance. I think we must let his mind alone.”

Robert H. Jackson

American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 444 (1950)
Judicial opinions

“This Court is forever adding new stories to the temples of constitutional law, and the temples have a way of collapsing when one story too many is added.”

Robert H. Jackson

Douglas v. Jeannette, 319 U.S. 157, 181 (1943)
Judicial opinions

“On your first appearance before the Court, do not waste your time and ours telling us so. We are likely to discover for ourselves that you are a novice but will think none the less of you for it. Every famous lawyer had his first day at our bar, and perhaps a sad one…. Be respectful, of course, but also be self-respectful, and neither disparage yourself nor flatter the Justices. We think well enough of ourselves already.”

Robert H. Jackson

Advocacy Before the Supreme Court: Suggestions for Effective Case Presentations, 37 A.B.A Journal 801 (1951)

“Civil liberties had their origin and must find their ultimate guaranty in the faith of the people. If that faith should be lost, five or nine men in Washington could not long supply its want.”

Robert H. Jackson

Douglas v. Jeannette, 319 U.S. 157, 182 (1943)
Judicial opinions

“The mere state of being without funds is a neutral fact — constitutionally an irrelevance, like race, creed, or color.”

Robert H. Jackson

Edwards v. California, 314 U.S. 160, 184 (1941)
Judicial opinions

“Of one thing we may be sure. The future will never have to ask, with misgiving, what could the Nazis have said in their favor. History will know that whatever could be said, they were allowed to say. They have been given the kind of a Trial which they, in the days of their pomp and power, never gave to any man.”

Robert H. Jackson

Summation for the Prosecution, July 26, 1946
Quotes from the Nuremberg Trials (1945-1946)

“Our protection against all kinds of fanatics and extremists, none of whom can be trusted with unlimited power over others, lies not in their forbearance but in the limitations of our Constitution.”

Robert H. Jackson

American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 439 (1950)
Judicial opinions

“No one will question that this power is the most dangerous one to free government in the whole catalogue of powers. It usually is invoked in haste and excitement when calm legislative consideration of constitutional limitation is difficult. It is executed in a time of patriotic fervor that makes moderation unpopular. And, worst of all, it is interpreted by judges under the influence of the same passions and pressures. Always, as in this case, the Government urges hasty decision to forestall some emergency or serve some purpose and pleads that paralysis will result if its claims to power are denied or their confirmation delayed.”

Robert H. Jackson

On the "war power"; Woods v. Cloyd W. Miller Co., 333 U.S. 138, 146 (1948) (concurring)
Judicial opinions

“But we must not forget that in our country are evangelists and zealots of many different political, economic and religious persuasions whose fanatical conviction is that all thought is divinely classified into two kinds — that which is their own and that which is false and dangerous.”

Robert H. Jackson

American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 438 (1950)
Judicial opinions

“The prosecutor has more control over life, liberty, and reputation, than any other person in America.”

Robert H. Jackson

"The Federal Prosecutor" (1940)

“The day that this country ceases to be free for irreligion it will cease to be free for religion — except for the sect that can win political power.”

Robert H. Jackson

343 U.S. 325
Judicial opinions, Zorach v. Clauson (1952)

“Each of these men made a real contribution to the Nazi plan. Each man had a key part. Deprive the Nazi regime of the functions performed by a Schacht, a Sauckel, a Von Papen, or a Goering and you have a different regime. Look down the rows of fallen men and picture them as the photographic and documentary evidence shows them to have been in their days of power. Is there one who did not substantially advance the conspiracy along its bloody path toward its bloody goal? Can we assume that the great effort of these men's lives was directed toward ends they never suspected?”

Robert H. Jackson

Summation for the Prosecution, July 26, 1946
Quotes from the Nuremberg Trials (1945-1946)

“No longer may the head of a state consider himself outside of the law, and impose inhuman acts on the peoples of the world.”

Robert H. Jackson

Regarding the Nuremberg Trials
New York Times Obituary (October 10, 1954)

“But when notice is a person's due, process which is a mere gesture is not 'due process.”

Robert H. Jackson

Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co., 339 U.S. 306 (1950)
Judicial opinions

“If we concede to the State power and wisdom to single out "duly constituted religious" bodies as exclusive alternatives for compulsory secular instruction, it would be logical to also uphold the power and wisdom to choose the true faith among those "duly constituted." We start down a rough road when we begin to mix compulsory public education with compulsory godliness.”

Robert H. Jackson

343 U.S. 325
Judicial opinions, Zorach v. Clauson (1952)

“We must never forget that the record on which we judge these defendants is the record on which history will judge us tomorrow. To pass these defendants a poisoned chalice is to put it to our own lips as well.”

Robert H. Jackson

Nuremberg Tribunal.
Opening Address to the International Military Tribunal at the Nuremberg Trials (10 November 1945)
Quotes from the Nuremberg Trials (1945-1946)