Benjamin Wittes Quotes

The public welfare demands that constitutional cases must be decided according to the terms of the Constitution itself, and not according to judges’ views of fairness, reasonableness, or justice.

Our Constitution was not written in the sands to be washed away by each successive wave of new judges blown in by each successive political wind.

If confirmed by the Senate to serve on the Supreme Court, I will keep an open mind in every case and always strive to preserve the Constitution of the United States and the American rule of law.

What many people, I think, don't really understand is how much their rights really turn on the interpretation of the Supreme Court.

If I am confirmed, I will commit to show Heller and the principles articulated in it the full measure of respect that is due to all constitution decisions of the court.

What five members of the Supreme Court say the law is may be something vastly different from what Congress intended the law to be.

Just because a couple people on the Supreme Court declare something to be 'constitutional' does not make it so.

We know that this man has a proven record of being a 'strict constructionist.' Our President has given us his word that he will interpret the Constitution rather than make new laws from the bench.

My feeling is that the judge has a responsibility to the Constitution first, precedent second. Precedent is one factor. It is not the only factor. If it was the only factor, then, you know, we wouldn't have had Roe vs. Wade. We wouldn't have had Griswold. We wouldn't have had Lawrence. We wouldn't have had all these cases which the Left love.

In the last four years the sound rule of giving statutes the benefit of all reasonable doubt has been cast aside. The Court has been acting not as a judicial body, but as a policy-making body…. Judges who will bring to the Courts a present-day sense of the Constitution - Judges who will retain in the Courts the judicial functions of a court, and reject the legislative powers which the courts have today assumed.

The Supreme Court is our ultimate check and balance.

The real difficulty is not with the Constitution but with the judges who interpret it.

We are under a Constitution, but the Constitution is what the judges say it is.

The words of the Constitution ... are so unrestricted by their intrinsic meaning or by their history or by tradition or by prior decisions that they leave the individual Justice free, if indeed they do not compel him, to gather meaning not from reading the Constitution but from reading life.

It is better that the law should be certain than that every judge should speculate upon improvements in it.

The Supreme Court is never very far from public opinion.

I believe Judge Kavanaugh will be a justice whose adherence to the Constitution and the rule of law will be a credit to the Court and all Americans.

My touchstone for every question is the Constitution.

I'm looking for a Justice who appreciates the awesome responsibility that she will be given, if confirmed. A Justice who understands the gravity of the office and who respects the very different roles that the Constitution provides for each of the three branches of government.

A justice is not like a law professor, who might say, 'This is my theory... and this is what I'm going to be faithful to and consistent with,' and in twenty years will look back and say, 'I had a consistent theory of the First Amendment as applied to a particular area.'

Judge Roberts has assured me personally that he has a healthy respect for precedent and the hard-won rights of Americans.

The ultimate touchstone of constitutionality is the Constitution itself and not what we have said about it.

Over the course of 19 years on the Supreme Court, I learned some lessons about the Constitution of the United States.

Judicial review has been a part of our democracy in this constitutional government for over 200 years.

Our chief justices have probably had more profound and lasting influence on their times and on the direction of the nation than most presidents.