Orrin Hatch Quotes About Judging
-
We should evaluate judges and judicial nominees based on the general process for applying the law to any legal disputes, not on the specific result in a particular case or dispute.
→ -
When Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg was before us in 1993, she said that her standard was to give no hints, no forecasts, no previews, and declined to answer dozens of questions.
→ -
In my legal practice, I have seen certain Federal judges controlled or influenced by large corporations..., by large law firms...on more than one occasion(, and) ...by special interests...(some) ought to be thrown right off the bench because they are breaking every code of conduct.
→ -
We must use a judicial, rather than a political, standard to evaluate [a nominee's] fitness for the Supreme Court. That standard must be based on the fundamental principle that judges interpret and apply but do not make law.
→ -
The debate over judicial nominations is a debate over the judiciary itself. It is a debate over how much power unelected judges should have in our system of government, how much control judges should have over a written constitution that belongs to the people.
→ -
Chief Justice [John] Roberts compared judges to umpires, who apply rules they did not write and cannot change to the competition before them.
→ -
Under the Constitution, the president, not the Senate, nominates and appoints judges. The Senate has a different role. We must give our advice .
→ -
The fact that Judge [Samuel] Alito is such a baseball fan gives me even more confidence that he knows the proper role of a judge.
→ -
I believe in the separation of powers. If a judge crosses the line between interpreting and making the law, he has crossed the line supporting his legitimate authority from the legislative branch's authority. Now, to me that's a very serious matter if we believe, as America's founders, did that the separation of powers - not just in theory or in textbook but in practice in the actual functioning of government - is the linchpin of limited government and liberty.
→ -
Judges who take the law into their own hands, who make up constitutional 'rights' in order to strike down laws they oppose, undermine the people's right to have their values shape public policy and define the culture.
→ -
This principle that judges are not politicians lies at the very heart of a judicial job - of the judicial job description.
→ -
Because judges may not issue advisory opinions, judicial nominees may not do so either, especially on issues likely to come before the court. That rule has always been honored.
→ -
We must apply a judicial rather than a political standard to the information before us [if choosing a Judge].
→ -
Ending up in the right place in this debate requires starting in the right place. The right place to start is the proper discrimination of what judges are supposed to do, and the rest of the process should reflect this judicial job description.
→ -
I'm not naive. Sometimes interpretation is more of an art than a science. There are those who would label interpretation absolutely anything a judge might do or, two, the text of a statute or the Constitution. But it seems to me there comes a point where a judge is using his own creativity and purpose and crosses the line between interpreting a text written by somebody else and in a sense creating something new.
→ -
In our system of government, the judicial and legislative branches have different roles. Judges are not politicians. Judges must decide cases, not champion causes. Judges must settle legal disputes, not pursue agendas. Judges must interpret and apply the law, not make the law.
→ -
No matter how badly senators want to know things, judicial nominees are limited in what they may discuss. That limitation is real. And it comes from the very nature of what judges do.
→
Related Authors
-
Barack Obama 44th U.S. President -
Michael Enzi United States Senator -
Patrick Leahy United States Senator -
John Cornyn United States Senator -
Mitch McConnell United States Senator -
Chuck Grassley United States Senator -
Dianne Feinstein United States Senator -
Jeff Flake United States Senator -
Max Baucus United States Ambassador to China -
Mike Lee United States Senator -
Jeff Sessions United States Senator -
John Thune United States Senator -
Ron Wyden United States Senator -
John Boehner Speaker of the United States House of Representatives -
Robert Foster Bennett Former United States Senator -
Rob Bishop U.S. Representative -
Barbara Boxer United States Senator -
Harry Reid United States Senator -
Tom Harkin United States Senator -
Dick Durbin United States Senator