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What many of those who oppose the use of juries in civil trials seem to ignore is that the founders of our Nation considered the right of trial by jury in civil cases an important bulwark against tyranny and corruption, a safeguard too precious to be left to the whim of the sovereign, or, it might be added, to that of the judiciary.

William Rehnquist

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William Rehnquist
Age: 80 †
Born: 1924
Born: October 1
Died: 2005
Died: September 3
Former Associate Justice Of The Supreme Court Of The United States
Historian
Judge
Lawyer
Politician
Milwaukee City
Wisconsin
William Hubbs Rehnquist
Bulwark
Seems
Considered
Added
Safeguard
Might
Nation
Sovereign
Judiciary
Right
Seem
Ignore
Whim
Many
Cases
Corruption
Oppose
Important
Law
Trials
Nations
Precious
Jury
Use
Tyranny
Trial
Juries
Left
Civil
Founders

More quotes by William Rehnquist

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The Constitution requires that Congress treat similarly situated persons similarly, not that it engages in gestures of superficial equality.
William Rehnquist
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A father's interest in having a child--perhaps his only child--may be unmatched by any other interest in his life. It is truly surprising that the state must assign a greater value to a mother's decision to cut off a potential human life by abortion than to a father's decision to let it mature into a live child.
William Rehnquist
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I may not be able to define pornography but I know it when I see it.
William Rehnquist
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In any civilized society the most important task is achieving a proper balance between freedom and order. In wartime, reason and history both suggest that this balance shifts in favor... of the government's ability to deal with conditions that threaten the national well-being.
William Rehnquist
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Conservatives are those who worship dead radicals.
William Rehnquist
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It is always possible for the court to overreach its proper bounds and perhaps declare a lot of laws unconstitutional and frustrate the will of the majority in a way that it ought not be frustrated.
William Rehnquist
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[I]f we assume a liberty interest but nevertheless say that, even assuming a liberty interest, a state can prohibit it entirely, that would be rather a conundrum.
William Rehnquist
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We start with first principles. The Constitution creates a Federal Government of enumerated powers.
William Rehnquist
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If you could say of any one individual that the court as an institution is the length and shadow of that individual, surely it would be John Marshall.
William Rehnquist
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The laws will not be silent in time of war but they'll speak with a somewhat different voice.
William Rehnquist
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The 'wall of separation between church and state' is a metaphor based on bad history, a metaphor which has proved useless as a guide to judging. It should be frankly and explicitly abandoned.
William Rehnquist
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Perhaps you should say there should be mandatory retirement even of members of the court, members of the federal judiciary. I'm sure there can be questions about whether one does as good work when you get into your - you know, I'm 67.
William Rehnquist
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The wall of separation between church and State is a metaphor based on bad history.
William Rehnquist
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I realize that it is an unpopular and unhumanitarian position, for which I have been excoriated by 'liberal' colleagues, but I think Plessy v. Ferguson was right and should be re-affirmed.
William Rehnquist
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Pregnancy is of course confined to women, but it is in other ways significantly different from the typical covered disease or disability.
William Rehnquist
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Somewhere out there, beyond the walls of the courthouse, run currents and tides of public opinion which lap at the courtroom door.
William Rehnquist
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The Equal Rights Amendment would turn holy wedlock into holy deadlock.
William Rehnquist