Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about the subject of justice. As we look around the Capitol, there are effigies and paintings. Even in this Chamber, there are paintings of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, the visionaries of this Nation who envisioned a Nation and a government that was committed to liberty, tempered by law and justice. Their idea of justice was an equal application of the law to everyone, that there weren't two sets of laws--one law for the citizen and a different law for the bureaucrat or the elected official--but all laws were equally applied to every person. I want to tell you the story of two Johns and how the law doesn't apply equally. The first John is a Mr. John Yates who, in 2007, was fishing for grouper in the Gulf of Mexico when a State conservation officer, who had Federal authority, approached his boat and asked to inspect his catch. Upon the inspection, he found that there were 72 grouper that were suspected to be under the minimum size. He ordered Mr. Yates to return to shore. Now, Mr. Yates understood that this was not a serious crime, it was actually a civil action, and he could face a fine or he could lose his fishing license, a license issued by the government that he made his living with. But Mr. Yates made a mistake. He made a bad decision, because he ordered those suspect fish to be thrown back into the water. It was a mistake.…”