Anthony Kennedy Quotes

In a Madisonian system, it is often more important how you do something than what you do.

The framers of our Constitution came up with two major contributions to the art of government. The first was the idea of an executive not dependent on the political support of the legislature. The second was the idea of the judiciary independent of the executive and legislative branches.

The founders had a strong distrust for centralized power in a federal government. So they created a government with checks and balances. This was to prevent any branch of the government from becoming too powerful.

If we look into the constitutions of the several States, we find that … there is not a single instance in which the several departments of power have been kept absolutely separate and distinct.

And one of the frustrating parts, but it's an inherent part of our democracy, is we have separation of powers.

Governance is a way of organizing, amplifying, and constraining power.

Our carefully constructed system of checks and balances is being negated by the rise of a fourth branch, an administrative state of sprawling departments and agencies that govern with increasing autonomy and decreasing transparency.

The basic premise of the Constitution was a separation of powers and a system of checks and balances because man was perceived as a fallen creature and would always yearn for more power.

It was the separation of powers upon which the framers placed their hopes for the preservation of the people's liberties. Despite this heritage, the congress has been in too many cases more than willing to walk away from its constitutional powers.

In the Constitution of the American Republic there was a deliberate and very extensive and emphatic division of governmental power for the very purpose of preventing unbridled majority rule.

When you establish a powerful position, the first think you have to do is check that power and make it accountable.

We are not at liberty to add one jot of power to the national government beyond what the people have granted by the constitution

The Constitution lies at the core of our civil religion.

The Constitution is simply a sign that says “keep off the grass.”

Statutes and constitutions do not protect judicial independence -- people do.

The Founding Fathers gladly sacrificed government that could provide speedy, effective, cohesive, and internally consistent policies. They opted for one that had a maximum number of veto points and checks and balances and protections against tyranny by particular officials or tyranny by selfish majorities.

All government is a trust. Every branch of government is a trust, and immemorially acknowledged to be so.

No other country has copied the separation and division of powers that we have.

The federal constitution is perhaps the greatest of human experiments.

The Constitution is a list of things the government may not do.

An obvious precaution against the corruption of power is to divide the government.

If the debates had been public, no constitution would have ever been adopted.

What is called a constitution today is nothing but "get out so I can get in.

Power should be a check to power.

Lack of accountability in any decision making structure is not tolerable.