John Roberts
John Roberts
John Glover Roberts Jr.is the 17th and current Chief Justice of the United States. He took his seat on September 29, 2005, having been nominated by President George W. Bush after the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist. He has been described as having a conservative judicial philosophy in his jurisprudence...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJudge
Date of Birth27 January 1955
CountryUnited States of America
appreciation cases decide execute judge known means modest prefer resist role talked
Like most people, I resist the labels. I have told people, when pressed, that I prefer to be known as a modest judge. And, to me, that means some of the things that you talked about in those other labels. It means an appreciation that the role of the judge is limited; the judge is to decide the cases before them; they're not to legislate; they're not to execute the laws.
announced judge late opposition
Late this August, MALDEF announced its opposition to Judge Roberts.
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Judges are umpires. I will remember it is my job to call balls and strikes, and not pitch or bat.
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I'm not standing for election and it is contrary to the role of judges in our society to say that this judge should go on the bench because this is his or her position and those are the positions they're going to apply,
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Judges and justices are servants of the law, not the other way around. Judges are like umpires. Umpires don't make the rules; they apply them,
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Judges are like umpires. Umpires don't make the rules. They apply them.
basis black judges law matter outside shape understanding wear
No, I don't think there is, ... You look outside yourself, to other sources. This is the basis for judges (to) wear black robes, because it doesn't matter who they are as individuals . . . it's their understanding of the law that will shape the decision.
basis black hard judges law matter meaning outside particular robes shape term understanding values wear
No, I don't think there is. Sometimes it's hard to give meaning to a constitutional term in a particular case. But you don't look to your own values and beliefs. You look outside yourself to other sources. This is the basis for ? you know, judges wear black robes because it doesn't matter who they are as individuals. That's not going to shape their decision. It's their understanding of the law that will shape their decision.
commission judges solve
Judges do not have a commission to solve society's problems, ... their role, while important, is limited.
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allows the judge to incorporate his or her own personal preferences, cloak them with the authority of precedent -- because they're finding precedent in foreign law -- and use that to determine the meaning of the Constitution.
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The Framers were not the sort of people, having fought a revolution to get the right of self-government, to sit down and say, 'Let's take all the difficult issues before us and let's have the judges decide them.'
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If we're relying on a decision from a German judge about what our Constitution means, no president accountable to the people appointed that judge and no Senate accountable to the people confirmed that judge. And yet he's playing a role in shaping the law that binds the people in this country. I think that's a concern that has to be addressed.
appointed binds confirmed constitution german judge law people playing president relying role senate shaping
If we're relying on a German judge about what our Constitution means, no president accountable to the people appointed that judge and no Senate accountable to the people confirmed that judge. And yet, he's playing a role in shaping the law that binds the people in this country.
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I know there are people of strongly held views on both sides of the issue ... And I know that the responsibility of a judge confronting this issue is to decide the case according to the rule of law consistent with the precedents, not to take sides in the dispute as a matter of policy, but to decide it according to the law.