Many of the arguments before us today follow a sadly familiar pattern. Yes, promises were made but the price of keeping them has become too great so now we should just cast a blind eye. We reject that thinking.

We divide power in a way that was quite unique. Federalism. You can think of separation of powers as having a horizontal axis and a vertical axis.

There's a great deal about this process I regret. I regret putting my family through this.

I would have walked out the door. It's not what judges do.

When I became a judge, they gave me a gavel, not a rubber stamp. And nobody comes to my court expecting a rubber stamp.

When anyone criticizes the honesty or integrity, the motives of a federal judge, now, I find that disheartening. I find that demoralizing.

I participated in 2,700 opinions over 10 and a half years. And if you want cases where I've ruled for the little guy as well as the big guy, there are plenty of them, Senator.

The role of the judge is to say what the law is, the great Chief Justice Marshall declared in Marbury v. Madison.

I mean no disrespect to any other person in saying they do not speak for me, and I do not speak for them.

No one in that process... asked me for any commitments, any kind of promises about how I would rule in any kind of case.

you would have to have a State that would pass a law like that.

A good judge starts with precedent and does not reinvent the wheel.