Judges & Justices

I think that means it's incumbent on us to do things, to act in ways, that shore up public confidence.

Everyone believes the court system is outside the political sphere. I think that means it's incumbent on us to do things, to act in ways, that shore up public confidence.

Public confidence is really all the judiciary has.

I think they view us as purely political actors, which I don’t think is an accurate understanding of what we do.

The Court’s decision to permit the Executive to violate the Constitution with respect to anyone who has not yet sued is an existential threat to the rule of law.

The decision … gives the Executive the go-ahead to sometimes wield the kind of unchecked, arbitrary power the Founders crafted our Constitution to eradicate.

The Court has now declared for the first time in history that the most powerful official in the United States can … become a law unto himself.

It’s important for maintaining public confidence in the judiciary and the Supreme Court to know how the opinions are being conveyed and received and understood by the American people.

I’m aware of it. I definitely pay attention to it.

There can be a risk in writing the opinion of lock-in effect—of making a snap judgment and putting it in writing.

The collegiality of the Supreme Court is very strong.

We’re nine independent people.

I think there are different views among members of the court about when to do it and when not.

I think that we should hold ourselves, sort of on both sides, to a standard of explaining why we're doing what we're doing.

I think as we have done more and more on this emergency docket, there becomes a real responsibility that I think we didn't recognize when we first started down this road, to explain things better.

To preserve what I think is the crown jewel of our constitutional democracy, which is the independence of the judiciary.

What is the status of the new regulation or executive order for the next two years?

Executive branches of both parties over the last 20 years have been increasingly trying to issue executive orders and regulations that achieve the policy objectives of the president in power.

So there could be a risk in writing the opinion, of lock-in effect, of making a snap judgment and putting it in writing, in a written opinion that's not going to reflect the final view.

I have a very thick skin.

Perhaps the degradation of our rule-of-law regime would happen anyway.

The threats and harassment are attacks on our democracy, on our system of government.

The attacks are not random. They seem designed to intimidate those of us who serve in this critical capacity.

I have no doubt that, if judges must allow the Executive to act unlawfully in some circumstances, as the Court concludes today, executive lawlessness will flourish.