Patrick Fitzgerald Quotes

You know I took an oath to tell the truth when I took the witness stand.

O.J. Simpson never lied to me.

When I testified in front of Congress, I know that I was testifying under oath and I told the truth.

Lying under oath, and encouraging lies under oath, does go to the very heart and soul of what courts do. If we say we don't care, let's forget about courts, and we'll just have other ways of figuring out how to handle disputes.

The courtroom oath—to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth—is applicable only to witnesses... because the American justice system is built on a foundation of not telling the whole entire truth.

A judge sometimes must release a criminal. He doesn't like it, she doesn't like it, but the law requires it. And the context of an election in which you are "soft on crime" betrays a misunderstanding of the judicial process and a misunderstanding of the Constitution.

Of course, as a German, I wouldn't like to tell the American people how to handle their criminal justice.

Well, I - all cases to me have interest. Every case is important to somebody, the people litigating that case. But the most difficult case for me is the case where one person says a, the other person says b, and you just don't know for certain who is not telling you the truth.

Doing a thing by law, or according to law, is only carrying the law into execution. And punishing a man by, or according to, the sentence or judgment of his peers, is only carrying that sentence or judgment into execution.

Justice will overtake fabricators of lies and false witnesses.

There is no excuse for perjury - never, never, never. There is truth, and the truth demands respect.

We make no apology for people who should be in prison being in prison.

As a former attorney general. I have the greatest respect for the criminal justice system. But it is not good at intelligence gathering.

The American people do not want people thumbing their nose at the law. It undercuts the very fabric of our society and the system of civil justice and of criminal justice as well.

That justice should be administered between men, it is necessary that testimonies of fact be alleged; and that witnesses should apprehend themselves greatly obliged to discover the truth, according to their conscience, in dark and doubtful cases.

I think that one of the most fundamental responsibilities is to give testimony in a court of law, to give it honestly and willingly.

Americans have grown a great deal more realistic about lawyers and the law. I think that's all for the good. A lot of people will say to you these days, 'If you are looking for justice, don't go to a courtroom.' That's just a more realistic perspective on what happens in the legal process.

Discovering witnesses is just as important as catching criminals.

In the criminal justice system, the law-abiding citizen comes first.

Criminals are punished, that others may be deterred.

Criminal justice should not be a show for citizens.

Our criminal justice system affirmatively depends on inequality.

Our Constitution does not require that all crimes be solved.

If laws are going to work in this country, there has to be some finality.

The most malign of all these dangers today is disregard and disobedience of law. Crime is increasing. Confidence in rigid and speedy justice is decreasing.