I became a lawyer for selfish reasons. I thought I could do a lawyer’s job better than any other.
Each part of my life provided respite from the other and gave me a sense of proportion that classmates trained only on law studies lacked.
We children of public school age can do much to aid in the promotion of peace. We must try to train ourselves and those about us to live together with one another as good neighbors for this idea is embodied in the great new Charter of the United Nations. It is the only way to secure the world against future wars and maintain an everlasting peace.
At Cornell University, professor of European literature Vladimir Nabokov changed the way I read and the way I write. Words could paint pictures, I learned from him. Choosing the right word, and the right word order, he illustrated, could make an enormous difference in conveying an image or an idea.
Be independent and be a lady.
We may be anxious to reduce crime, but we should remember that in our system of justice, the presumption of innocence is prime, and the law cannot apply one rule to Joe who is a good man, and another to John, who is a hardened criminal.
Yet what greater defeat could we suffer than to come to resemble the forces we oppose in their disrespect for human dignity?
And I give you this picture because it fairly captures our nearly fifty-year happy marriage, during which I have offered up an astonishing number of foolish pronouncements with absolute assurance, and Ruth, with only limited rancor, has ignored almost every one. A.
Less than 3 percent of positions in the federal government at and above GS-16 rank are held by women.8.
My mother was very strong about my doing well in school and living up to my potential.
Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. It shouldn’t be that women are the exception.
The decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman’s life, to her well-being and dignity. It is a decision she must make for herself. When the government controls that decision for her, she is being treated as less than a full adult human responsible for her own choices.
We should not be held back from pursuing our full talents, from contributing what we could contribute to the society, because we fit into a certain mould – because we belong to a group that historically has been the object of discrimination.
Yet, as the numbers reveal, women in law, even today, are not entering a bias-free profession.
In every good marriage, it helps sometimes to be a little deaf.
We will all profit from a more diverse, inclusive society, understanding, accommodating, even celebrating our differences, while pulling together for the common good.
Reacting in anger or annoyance will not advance ones ability to persuade.
Judges do read the newspapers and are affected, not by the weather of the day, as distinguished constitutional law professor Paul Freund once said, but by the climate of the era.
Speak you mind even if your voice shakes.
Once asked how we could be friends, given our disagreement on lots of things, Justice Scalia answered: ‘I attack ideas. I don’t attack people.
Roe isn’t really about the woman’s choice, is it? It’s about the doctor’s freedom to practice... it wasn’t woman-centered, it was physician-centered.