Stephen Breyer

Without the public's trust, the Court would no longer be able to act as a check on the other branches of Government and a guarantee--guarantor of the rule of law, threatening the foundations of our constitutional system.

I have dedicated my career to ensuring that the words engraved on the front of the Supreme Court Building 'Equal Justice Under Law' are a reality and not just an ideal.

It`s us, but it`s you, it`s that next generation. The one after that, my grandchildren and their children. They will determine whether the experiment still works, and of course, I`m an optimist and I am pretty sure it will.

American democracy cannot be taken for granted. It is not self-sustaining.

And we`re now engaged in a great civil war to determine whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.

I can only do this for so much longer. The Democrats will lose control of the Senate, in the next election. And if that happens, the next opening will not be for two years. So, I have to do it now.

If the public sees Judges as politicians in robes, its confidence in the courts and in the rule of law itself can only diminish.

To overrule under fire in the absence of the most compelling reason to reexamine a watershed decision would subvert the court's legitimacy beyond any serious question.

We have to have public support, and that comes primarily from people believing that we do our job. We use reason. We don`t look to just what`s popular. And that`s where you`re seeing the paradox.

You better be there for everybody. Not just the Democrats, not just the Republicans.

I don`t intend to die on the court. I don`t think I`ll be there forever.

It matters who replaces me.