“When we went to school we were told that we were governed by laws, not men. As a result of that, many people think there is no need to pay any attention to judicial candidates because judges merely apply the law by some mathematical formula and a good judge and a bad judge all apply the same kind of law. The fact is that the most important part of a judge's work is the exercise of judgment and that the law in a court is never better than the common sense judgment of the judge that is presiding.”

— Robert H. Jackson

Reported in Eugene Gerhart, America's Advocate: Robert H. Jackson (1958), p. 289

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Robert H. Jackson 96

American judge 1892–1954

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