“Congress is, after all, not a body of laymen unfamiliar with the commonplaces of our law. This legislation was the formulation of the two Judiciary Committees, all of whom are lawyers, and the Congress is predominately a lawyers' body.”

Callanan v. United States, 364 U.S. 587, 594 (1961).
Judicial opinions

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 8, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Congress is, after all, not a body of laymen unfamiliar with the commonplaces of our law. This legislation was the form…" by Felix Frankfurter?
Felix Frankfurter photo
Felix Frankfurter 67
American judge 1882–1965

Related quotes

Gerald Ford photo

“As a man of the Congress, let me reaffirm my conviction that the collective wisdom of our two great legislative bodies, while not infallible, will in the end serve the people faithfully and very, very well.”

Gerald Ford (1913–2006) American politician, 38th President of the United States (in office from 1974 to 1977)

1970s, First Vice-Presidential address (1973)

Thomas Jefferson photo

“[I]f the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send 150 lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and to talk by the hour?”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

1782, reported in Henry Brougham, Baron Brougham and Vaux, Historical Sketches of Statesmen who Flourished in the Time of George III (1845), Vol. II, p. 62.
1780s

Woodrow Wilson photo

“Congress in session is Congress on public exhibition, whilst Congress in its committee-rooms is Congress at work.”

Congressional Government, A Study in American Politics (1885; republished 1981), chapter 2, p. 69 (1981)
1880s

Jeremy Bentham photo

“Lawyers are the only persons in whom ignorance of the law is not punished.”

Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) British philosopher, jurist, and social reformer

Attributed to Bentham in The Dictionary of Humorous Quotations‎ (1949) by Evan Esar, p. 29; no earlier sources for this have been located.
Disputed

Tony Blair photo

“He wants a Bill of Rights for Britain drafted by a Committee of Lawyers. Have you ever tried drafting anything with a Committee of Lawyers?”

Tony Blair (1953) former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

In full: Tony Blair's speech http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5382590.stm, BBC News online
Attacking David Cameron, during his Labour Party Conference speech on 26 September 2006.
2000s

Francis Escudero photo
John Coleridge, 1st Baron Coleridge photo

“As a lawyer I am before and above all things for the supremacy of law.”

John Coleridge, 1st Baron Coleridge (1820–1894) British lawyer, judge and Liberal politician

The Queen v. Bishop of London (1889), L. R. 23 Q. B. 452.

Douglas William Jerrold photo

“Self-defense is the clearest of all laws; and for this reason - the lawyers didn't make it.”

Douglas William Jerrold (1803–1857) English dramatist and writer

Reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed photo

“In the Congress hierarchy, he enjoyed an enviable position being a member of the Congress Working Committee for many years.”

Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (1905–1977) the fifth President of India and a politician

Source: Great Muslims of undivided India, P.100

Related topics