Quotes about court
page 13

Arundhati Roy photo
Madhu Kishwar photo
Plutarch photo
Amit Shah photo
William Blake photo
Ketanji Brown Jackson photo
Ketanji Brown Jackson photo
Jean-Paul Marat photo
Maximilien Robespierre photo

“When a nation has been forced to resort to the right of insurrection, it returns to the state of nature in relation to the tyrant. How can the tyrant invoke the state of nature in relation to the tyrant. How can the tyrant invoke the social pact? He has annihilated it. The nation can still keep it, if it thinks fit, for everything conserving relations between citizens; but the effect of tyranny and insurrection is to break it entirely where the tyrant is concerned; it places them reciprocally in a state of war. Courts and legal proceeding are only for members of the same side.”

Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794) French revolutionary lawyer and politician

Speech on the Trial of Louis XVI (Dec. 3, 1792)
Source: https://ihrf.univ-paris1.fr/enseignement/outils-et-materiaux-pedagogiques/textes-et-sources-sur-la-revolution-francaise/proces-du-roi-discours-de-robespierre/ Speech on the Trial of Louis XVI (Dec. 3, 1792)

en.wikiquote.org - Maximilien Robespierre / Quotes / Speech on the Trial of Louis XVI (Dec. 3, 1792) https://ihrf.univ-paris1.fr/enseignement/outils-et-materiaux-pedagogiques/textes-et-sources-sur-la-revolution-francaise/proces-du-roi-discours-de-robespierre/

Maximilien Robespierre photo
Maximilien Robespierre photo

“Peoples do not judge in the same way as courts of law; they do not hand down sentences, they throw thunderbolts; they do not condemn kings, they drop them back into the void; and this justice is worth just as much as that of the courts. If it is for their salvation that they take arms against their oppressors, how can they be made to adopt a way of punishing them that would pose a new danger to themselves?”

Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794) French revolutionary lawyer and politician

Speech on the Trial of Louis XVI (Dec. 3, 1792)
Original: (fr) Les peuples ne jugent pas comme les cours judiciaires ; ils ne rendent point de sentences, ils lancent la foudre ; ils ne condamnent pas les rois, ils les replongent dans le néant : et cette justice vaut bien celle des tribunaux. Si c’est pour leur salut qu’ils s’arment contre leurs oppresseurs, comment seraient-ils tenus d’adopter un mode de les punir qui serait pour eux-mêmes un nouveau danger?

Koenraad Elst photo
Milton Friedman photo
Chris Hedges photo
Martin Luther King, Jr. photo
Jair Bolsonaro photo

“Some people say that it is nepotism, but that’s for the Supreme Court to decide. It is not nepotism, I would never do that. It’s not up to me, it’s up to my son to accept and then he will be subject to Senate approval. Who do you want me to put in? Celso Amorim?”

Jair Bolsonaro (1955) Brazilian president elect

On 12 July 2019, about nominating his son Eduardo to be ambassador to the United States. Brazil's Bolsonaro says nominating son as ambassador to U.S. is not nepotism https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-bolsonaro-usa/brazils-bolsonaro-says-nominating-son-as-ambassador-to-u-s-is-not-nepotism-idUSKCN1U72A5. Reuters (12 July 2019).

Jair Bolsonaro photo

“The state is secular, but we are Christians. We respect the majority and minority, but Brazil is a Christian country. With all due respect, the Federal Supreme Court typified homophobia as if it were racism. Is it not time for an evangelical Christian in the Supreme Court?”

Jair Bolsonaro (1955) Brazilian president elect

On 13 June 2019. Bolsonaro Renews Call for Evangelical Christian on Brazilian Supreme Court https://riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/rio-politics/society/bolsonaro-says-it-is-time-for-an-evangelical-christian-on-brazilian-supreme-court/. The Rio Times (14 June 2019).

H.L. Mencken photo
Said Ramadan photo
Michael Moorcock photo
Edmund Burke photo
Fidel Castro photo

“Let me tell you a story: Once there was a republic. It had its constitution, its laws, its freedoms, a president, a congress and courts of law. Everyone could assemble, associate, speak and write with complete freedom.”

Fidel Castro (1926–2016) former First Secretary of the Communist Party and President of Cuba

ibid., p. 89-901
History Will Absolve Me (October 16th, 1953)

James Eastland photo

“Today, however, a trend away from traditional standards of propriety begins to be in evidence. Our Court has been indoctrinated and brainwashed by left-wing pressure groups. The Court is out of step with the American people. We see Justices of the Supreme Court banqueted and honored by left-wing Communist-front organizations militantly interested in legislation on which the Supreme Court must pass.”

James Eastland (1904–1986) American politician

Congressional Record https://books.google.fr/books?id=WhPOxPiWV2YC&q=%22indoctrinated+and+brainwashed+by+left-wing+pressure+groups.%22&dq=%22indoctrinated+and+brainwashed+by+left-wing+pressure+groups.%22&hl=fr&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjiodS__tjkAhWLnhQKHSqcBdoQ6AEIcjAJ, 1956
1950s

David Ben-Gurion photo

“In Jerusalem, the United Nations (a truly United Nations) will build a Shrine of the Prophets to serve the federated union of all continents; this will be the seat of the Supreme Court of Mankind, to settle all controversies among the federated continents, as prophesied by Isaiah.”

David Ben-Gurion (1886–1973) Israeli politician, Zionist leader, prime minister of Israel

As quoted on Look magazine, and reproduced by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency http://www.jta.org/1962/01/04/archive/ben-gurion-foresees-gradual-democratization-of-the-soviet-union, 4 January 1962.

Theresa May photo

“We will take back control of our laws, by ending the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in the UK. In future, our laws will be made, interpreted and enforced by our own courts and legislatures.”

Theresa May (1956) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Reality Check: Theresa May's Brexit letter https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-46344443 BBC News (26 November 2018)
2010s, On Brexit

Theresa May photo
Nicolas Chamfort photo

“Both the court and the general public give a conventional value to men and things, and then are surprised to find themselves deceived by it. This is as if arithmeticians should give a variable an arbitrary value to the figures in a sum, and then, after restoring their true and regular value in the addition, be astonished at the incorrectness of their answer.”

Nicolas Chamfort (1741–1794) French writer

Les gens du monde et de la Cour donnent aux hommes et aux choses une valeur conventionnelle dont ils s'étonnent de se trouver les dupes. Ils ressemblent à des calculateurs, qui, en faisant un compte, donneraient aux chiffres une valeur variable et arbitraire, et qui, ensuite, dans l'addition, leur rendant leur valeur réelle et réglée, seraient tout surpris de ne pas trouver leur compte.
Maximes et Pensées, #199
Maxims and Considerations, #199

Imran Khan photo
Edward Bellamy photo
Anders Behring Breivik photo
Dave Dellinger photo

“THE COURT:... Mr. Dellinger, do you care to say anything? Only in respect to punishment.”

Dave Dellinger (1915–2004) American activist

'MR. DELLINGER: Yes . . . and I hope you will do me the courtesy not to interrupt me while I am talking.'
THE COURT: I won't interrupt you as long as you are respectful.
'MR. DELLINGER: Well. I will talk about the facts and the facts don't always encourage false respect.'
United States of America vs. David T. Dellinger et al.

Mohammad Hidayatullah photo
Mohammad Hidayatullah photo

“During his long tenure in the Supreme Court, he was a party to and author of a number of landmark judgments.”

Mohammad Hidayatullah (1905–1992) 11th Chief Justice of India

Full Court Reference in Memory of The Late Justice Mohammad Hidayatullah

V. V. Giri photo

“He must always be remembered for a significant event in Indian History viz., when he appeared in Court as President of India when his election was in dispute.”

V. V. Giri (1894–1980) Indian politician and 4th president of India

Chief Justice Alladi Kuppuswamy in: P. 85
Presidents of India, 1950-2003

Reuven Rivlin photo

“There are red lines that I as a democrat, say you cannot cross. I see it as defiance against Israel and Jerusalem as its capital as well as another protest against the historical narrative, a matter already pending before the High Court.”

Reuven Rivlin (1939) Israeli politician, 10th President of Israel

Responding to a MK Tibi-proposed bill recognising Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state
Israel national news http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/229567#.U5gRtvldXs9, 16 January 2012

Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma photo

“What Swati Tirunal’s court introduced, as had Surfoji’s before and the Mysore and Vizianagaram courts later, was the idea of the court as a showpiece of culture, a collection of the best musicians from around the world.”

Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma (1813–1846) Maharajah of Travencore

In P.64
About Swathi Thirunal, Singing the Classical, Voicing the Modern: The Postcolonial Politics of ...

Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma photo
Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma photo

“Swati Tirumal also imbibed the best from the many Hindustani musicians who flocked to his court and composed many songs in Hindustani ragas.”

Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma (1813–1846) Maharajah of Travencore

V. K. Subramanian (2013), in "101 Mystics of India", p, 181
About Swathi Thirunal

Birju Maharaj photo
Nicolae Ceaușescu photo
Byron White photo

“The same qualities that made him a memorable jurist would make him a lightning rod for fierce opposition if he were named to the Supreme Court now.”

Byron White (1917–2002) Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, American football player

USA Today, April 17, 2002, quoted in US Senate Republican Policy Committee article, 25 April 2002, "The Left's Iron-Clad Litmus Test on Abortion: Justice White Could Not Be Confirmed Today".

Byron White photo
Edward Coke photo

“That great lawyer was much heated in the controversy between the Courts at Westminster and the Ecclesiastical Courts. In every part of his conduct his passions influenced his judgment. Vir acer et vehemens.”

Edward Coke (1552–1634) English lawyer and judge

His law was continually warped by the different situations in which he found himself.
Heath, J., Jefferson v. Bishop of Durham (1797), 2 Bos. & Pull. 131.
About, The Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904)

Ernest Mandel photo
Clarence Thomas photo

“Clearly, heated reactions to the court or to its members are not unusual. Certainly, Justice Blackmun was attacked repeatedly because many disagreed, as I have, with the opinion he offered on behalf of the Court in Roe vs. Wade.”

Clarence Thomas (1948) Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Though I have joined opinions disagreeing with Justice Blackmun, I could not imagine ever being discourteous to him merely because we disagreed.
1990s, I Am a Man, a Black Man, an American (1998)

Roger Federer photo
Christopher Hitchens photo

“One could happily make a case that more random civilians, and fewer fucking lawyers, should be on the court. But the only other thing to say about Miers is that she is a fucking lawyer.”

Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011) British American author and journalist

2005-10-10
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2005/10/miers_and_brimstone.html
Miers and Brimstone
Slate
1091-2339
2000s, 2005

Martin Luther King, Jr. photo
Ethan Allen photo

“I didn’t hire you to come here and lie! That’s a true note. I signed it. I’ll pay it.… What I employed you for was to get this business put over to the next court — not come here and lie and juggle about it!”

Ethan Allen (1738–1789) American general

Courtroom exclamation to his lawyer, who had begun to deny that Allen's signature on a document was genuine, as quoted in "In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!" - American Heritage magazine Vol. 14, Issue 6 (October 1963)

James P. Gray photo
Nigel Farage photo
Learned Hand photo

“There are circumstances under which the anomalous should be courted. Ignorance is one of them.”

Part 2, Chapter 7 (p. 123)
Today We Choose Faces (1973)

Igor Matovič photo

“We are taking responsibility for Slovakia at a time when confidence in police and courts is minimal, when Slovakia tops corruption rankings.. We'll do anything to ensure that citizens will trust their state again.”

Igor Matovič (1973) Slovak politician

Igor Matovic sworn in as Slovakia's prime minister, By Sommer Brokaw, UPI https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2020/03/21/Igor-Matovic-sworn-in-as-Slovakias-prime-minister/4591584810212/, 21 March 2020

Alfred de Zayas photo
Ralph Nader photo
Arun Shourie photo
Ulysses S. Grant photo

“Though I have been trained as a soldier, and participated in many battles, there never was a time when, in my opinion, some way could not be found to prevent the drawing of the sword. I look forward to an epoch when a court, recognized by all nations, will settle international differences, instead of keeping large standing armies as they do in Europe.”

Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) 18th President of the United States

As quoted in "International Arbitration" by W. H. Dellenback in The Commencement Annual, University of Michigan (30 June 1892) and in A Half Century of International Problems: A Lawyer's Views (1954) by Frederic René Coudert, p. 180

Arnab Goswami photo

“Congress leaders have been intimidating me and threatening me with physical violence. I am deeply grateful that the Supreme Court has noted the violence against me and my wife.”

Arnab Goswami (1973) Indian news anchor

https://www.opindia.com/2020/04/arnab-goswami-grateful-supreme-court-interim-protection-congress-fir/ https://www.aninews.in/news/national/general-news/grateful-to-sc-for-upholding-constitutional-right-to-report-broadcast-arnab-goswami20200424155249/ https://www.newsx.com/national/arnab-goswami-deeply-grateful-to-sc-for-defending-his-freedom-of-expression-says-congress-filed-over-150-firs-to-intimidate-him.html

Edith Windsor photo

“I really believe in the supreme court. First of all, I'm the youngest in my family and justice matters a lot – the littlest one gets pushed around a lot. And I trust the supreme court, I trust the constitution – so I feel a certain confidence that we'll win.”

Edith Windsor (1929–2017) American LGBT rights activist and a technology manager at IBM

On her confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court in “Edith Windsor and Thea Spyer: 'A love affair that just kept on and on and on'” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/26/edith-windsor-thea-spyer-doma) (The Guardian; 2013 Jun 26)

Francis Bacon photo

“An ancient clerk, skilful in precedents, wary in proceeding, and understanding in the business of the court, is an excellent finger of a court; and doth many times point the way to the judge himself.”

Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author

The Essays Or Counsels, Civil And Moral, Of Francis Ld. Verulam Viscount St. Albans (1625), Of Judicature

Francis Bacon photo

“The principal duty of a judge, is to suppress force and fraud; whereof force is the more pernicious, when it is open, and fraud, when it is close and disguised. Add thereto contentious suits, which ought to be spewed out, as the surfeit of courts.”

Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author

The Essays Or Counsels, Civil And Moral, Of Francis Ld. Verulam Viscount St. Albans (1625), Of Judicature

Nahum Rabinovitch photo

“It is important to emphasize that not grappling with this problem will not make it disappear but rather will perpetuate the destruction of the unity and sanctity of the people, and that the new courts are working 100% according to halacha”

Nahum Rabinovitch (1928–2020) Israeli rabbi

Source: August 2015, per Times of Israel https://www.timesofisrael.com/will-new-conversion-court-rend-or-repair-the-fabric-of-israeli-society/

Edmund Burke photo
Enoch Powell photo
Donald J. Trump photo

“The U.S. Supreme Court has been totally incompetent and weak on the massive Election Fraud that took place in the 2020 Presidential Election. We have absolute PROOF, but they don't want to see it - No 'standing', they say. If we have corrupt elections, we have no country!”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Disputed tweet, quoted by * 2020-12-26
With less than a month left in office, Trump lashes out at 'totally incompetent' Supreme Court for refusing to overturn his election loss
Connor Perrett
Business Insider
2020s, 2020, December
Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-supreme-court-totally-incompetent-for-refusing-to-overturn-election-2020-12?r=US&IR=T

Henry VIII of England photo

“epic ; supreme court rules nabisco is legally allowed to label their products as "Homemade" after forcing the employees to live at the factory”

Dril Twitter user

[ Link to tweet https://twitter.com/dril/status/1288582330261467136]
Tweets by year, 2020

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell photo
Adolf Hitler photo

“The Palace of Justice in Brussels lies like a cyclops above the city, building a court of justice above a city, that is really something special.”

Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party

1940s

“In the end the court said we share your concerns, but the law is weak, we can't do anything.”

Swati Maliwal (1984) women activist who fights for women rights

Reuters https://www.reuters.com/article/delhi-gang-rape-supreme-court-idUSKBN0U40K620151221, accessed May 1, 2021

David Cay Johnston photo
Giles Rooke photo

“In this case the plaintiff does not come into Court with clean hands; he alleges his own turpitude, and is indictable for his fraud.”

Giles Rooke (1743–1808) British judge (1743-1808)

Farmer v. Russell (1798), 2 Bos. & Pull. 301.

Michael J. Sandel photo
Walter Cronkite photo

“Marriage is one of those things where people can have different opinions and it has to be decided at the ballot box and not through the courts. It's about who gets to decide not what should be decided.”

John J. Bursch (1972) American politician

Same-sex marriage case in court: Attorney John Bursch https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2015/04/23/sex-marriage-case-court-attorney-john-bursch/26277577/ (April 23, 2015)

Leopold II of Belgium photo

“Nothing is more difficult than arriving at a court where nobody knows anyone in the world, add to that the Austrian Etiquette, and you can imagine what kind of evening I had to endure.”

Leopold II of Belgium (1835–1909) King of the Belgians

Leopold II - Het Hele Verhaal (Aflevering 1) https://odysee.com/@BelgianCongo:3/Leopold-II-Het-Hele-Verhaal-Aflevering-1:1 Prince Leopold in a letter to his brother Prince Philippe and sister Princess Carlota, on being received by the Austrian court to meet his future bride 'Marie Henriette of Austria'.

Harry Graham photo
Emma Goldman photo

“One death is as good as another, if death is what you are courting.”

James Blish (1921–1975) American author

Source: …And All the Stars a Stage (1971; [serialized in 1960]), Chapter 14 (p. 186)

Angela Davis photo
Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Dwight D. Eisenhower photo

“Mob rule cannot be allowed to override the decisions of our courts.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961)

1950s, Address to the American People on the Situation in Little Rock (1957)

Robert A. Heinlein photo

“Before a revolution can take place, the population must lose faith in both the police and the courts.”

Source: Friday (1982), Chapter 23 (pp. 240-241)
Context: “So far as I have listened, before a revolution can take place, the population must lose faith in both the police and the courts.“ Elementary. Go on. “Well…high taxation is important and so is inflation of the currency and the ratio of the productive to those on the public payroll. But that’s old hat; everybody knows that a country is on the skids when its income and outgo get out of balance and stay that way—even though there are always endless attempts to wish it away by legislation.”

“A court dedicated to pure justice, one that can overrule the law! They didn’t even have one of those back on old Earth!”

Sheri S. Tepper (1929–2016) American fiction writer

Source: The Margarets (2007), Chapter 10, “I Am Wilvia/On B’Yurngrad” (p. 69)

“If anything goes wrong with the Supreme Court, we are in trouble. If anything goes wrong with the court, we are in trouble.”

Folake Solanke (1932) Nigerian lawyer

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6lqx-jLCac Folake Solanke speaks on the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

Mikheil Saakashvili photo

“While I have told about my successes, did I make mistakes? [I made] more than enough; many mistakes that I bitterly regret. First of all, my mistake was the court.”

Mikheil Saakashvili (1967) Georgian-Ukrainian politician, President of Georgia and Governor of Odessa

Tbilisi Courtroom Address (2021)

Laurence Tribe photo

“[M]uch of what our Supreme Court does involves filling in the "great silences of the Constitution"...”

Laurence Tribe (1941) American lawyer and law school professor

Soundings and Silences (2016)

Laurence Tribe photo
Ken Paxton photo
Bill Cosby photo

“I have never changed my stance nor my story. I have always maintained my innocence. Thank you to all my fans, supporters and friends who stood by me through this ordeal. Special thanks to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for upholding the rules of law.”

Bill Cosby (1937) American actor, comedian, author, producer, musician, activist

Source: In 2021 on his acquittal concerning sexual assault allegations that involved him. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/bill-cosby-prison-release-1234976311/

Joe Biden photo

“The idea that we're going to make a judgment that is going to say that no one can make the judgment to choose to abort a child, based on a decision by the Supreme Court, I think goes way overboard”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

Biden reacts to leaked draft Supreme Court opinion on abortion https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-reacts-leaked-draft-supreme-court-opinion-abortion/story?id=84467397
2022, May 2022

Joe Biden photo
Sania Nehwal photo

“I am friendly with all the players of badminton but on court our attitude change as we prefer not to lose because of these relations.”

Sania Nehwal (1990) Indian badminton player

"Saina Nehwal Interview: 'The Last Year Has Been The Toughest Time Of My Life'" in The Huffington Post https://www.huffpost.com/archive/in/entry/saina-nehwal-_n_7246612 (23 May 2015)

Sania Nehwal photo

“When I see myself moving on the court, I can see that there is a little bit of a struggle and when things will open up automatically, the results will come.”

Sania Nehwal (1990) Indian badminton player

"Saina Nehwal interview: Once I start winning tough matches, my confidence should return" in Firstpost https://www.firstpost.com/sports/saina-nehwal-interview-once-i-start-winning-tough-matches-my-confidence-should-return-3431998.html (9 May 2017)