WIST Quotations

Jackson, Robert H. -- “Advocacy Before the Supreme Court,” Morrison Lecture, California State Bar (23 Aug 1951)

Dave — Mon, 05 May 2008 10:27:44 +0000

I used to say that, as Solicitor General, I made three arguments in every case. First came the one I had planned — as I thought, logical, coherent, complete. Second was the one actually presented — interrupted, incoherent, disjointed, disappointing. The third was the utterly devastating argument that I thought of after going to bed that night.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
“Advocacy Before the Supreme Court,” Morrison Lecture, California State Bar (23 Aug 1951)
(Source)

Reprinted in the Cornell Law Quarterly (Fall 1951). Legal citation "Advocacy Before the Supreme Court," 37 A.B.A.J. 801, 803 (1951).

Jackson, Robert H. -- “Advocacy Before the Supreme Court,” Morrison Lecture, California State Bar (23 Aug 1951)

Dave — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:22:35 +0000

On your first appearance before the Court, do not waste your time and ours telling us so. We are likely to discover for ourselves that you are a novice but will think none the less of you for it. Every famous lawyer had his first day at our bar, and perhaps a sad one [….] Be respectful, of course, but also be self-respectful, and neither disparage yourself nor flatter the Justices. We think well enough of ourselves already.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
“Advocacy Before the Supreme Court,” Morrison Lecture, California State Bar (23 Aug 1951)
(Source)

Reprinted in the Cornell Law Quarterly (Fall 1951). Legal citation "Advocacy Before the Supreme Court," 37 A.B.A.J. 801, 803 (1951).

Jackson, Robert H. -- “The Federal Prosecutor,” speech, Conference of United States Attorneys, Washington, DC (1940-04-01)

Dave — Thu, 17 May 2012 06:35:35 +0000

The qualities of a good prosecutor are as elusive and as impossible to define as those which mark a gentleman. And those who need to be told would not understand it anyway. A sensitiveness to fair play and sportsmanship is perhaps the best protection against the abuse of power, and the citizen’s safety lies in the prosecutor who tempers zeal with human kindness, who seeks truth and not victims, who serves the law and not factional purposes, and who approaches his task with humility.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
“The Federal Prosecutor,” speech, Conference of United States Attorneys, Washington, DC (1940-04-01)
(Source)

Concluding words. Delivered while Jackson was the US Attorney General. Reprinted in the Journal of the American Judicature Society (1940-06).

Jackson, Robert H. -- “The Task of Maintaining Our Liberties: The Role of the Judiciary,” speech, Boston (24 Aug 1953)

Dave — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:50:53 +0000

There is no such thing as an achieved liberty; like electricity, there can be no substantial storage and it must be generated as it is enjoyed, or the lights go out.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
“The Task of Maintaining Our Liberties: The Role of the Judiciary,” speech, Boston (24 Aug 1953)
(Source)

Dinner address at the American Bar Association Diamond Jubilee dinner. Reprinted in the American Bar Association Journal (Nov 1953) [citation 39 A.B.A. J. 961 (1953)].

Jackson, Robert H. -- “The Task of Maintaining Our Liberties: The Role of the Judiciary,” speech, Boston (24 Aug 1953)

Dave — Thu, 31 May 2012 13:07:08 +0000

Not every defeat of authority is a gain for individual freedom, nor every judicial rescue of a convict a victory for liberty.

Jackson, Robert H. -- American Communications Assn. v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 442 (1950) [concurrence and dissent]

Dave — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:55:35 +0000

Progress generally begins in skepticism about accepted truths. Intellectual freedom means the right to reexamine much that has been long taken for granted. A free man must be a reasoning man, and he must dare to doubt what a legislative or electoral majority may most passionately assert. The danger that citizens will think wrongly is serious, but less dangerous than atrophy from not thinking at all.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
American Communications Assn. v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 442 (1950) [concurrence and dissent]
(Source)

Jackson, Robert H. -- American Communications Assn. v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 442 (1950) [concurrence and dissent]

Dave — Mon, 30 Jan 2023 23:18:19 +0000

Our Constitution relies on our electorate’s complete ideological freedom to nourish independent and responsible intelligence and preserve our democracy from that submissiveness, timidity and herd-mindedness of the masses which would foster a tyranny of mediocrity.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
American Communications Assn. v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 442 (1950) [concurrence and dissent]
(Source)

Jackson, Robert H. -- American Communications Assn. v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 442-443 (1950) [concurrence and dissent]

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

The priceless heritage of our society is the unrestricted constitutional right of each member to think as he will. Thought control is a copyright of totalitarianism, and we have no claim to it. It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error. We could justify any censorship only when the censors are better shielded against error than the censored.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
American Communications Assn. v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 442-443 (1950) [concurrence and dissent]
(Source)

Jackson, Robert H. -- American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 438 (1950) [concurrence and dissent]

Dave — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:06:46 +0000

But we must not forget that in our country are evangelists and zealots of many different political, economic and religious persuasions whose fanatical conviction is that all thought is divinely classified into two kinds — that which is their own and that which is false and dangerous. Communists are not the only faction which would put us all in mental straitjackets.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 438 (1950) [concurrence and dissent]
(Source)

Jackson, Robert H. -- American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 438-439 (1950) [concurrence and dissent]

Dave — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 12:17:54 +0000

It is not to be supposed that the age-old readiness to try to convert minds by pressure or suppression, instead of reason and persuasion, is extinct. Our protection against all kinds of fanatics and extremists, none of whom can be trusted with unlimited power over others, lies not in their forbearance, but in the limitations of our Constitution.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 438-439 (1950) [concurrence and dissent]
(Source)

Jackson, Robert H. -- American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 442 (1950) [concurrence and dissent]

Dave — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:07:30 +0000

Our forefathers found the evils of free thinking more to be endured than the evils of inquest or suppression. They gave the status of almost absolute individual rights to the outward means of expressing belief. I cannot believe that they left open a way for legislation to embarrass or impede the mere intellectual processes by which those expressions of belief are examined and formulated. This is not only because individual thinking presents no danger to society, but because thoughtful, bold and independent minds are essential to wise and considered self-government.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 442 (1950) [concurrence and dissent]
(Source)

Jackson, Robert H. -- Douglas v. Jeannette 319 U.S. 157, 181 (1943) [concurring]

Dave — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:36:09 +0000

Civil liberties had their origin and must find their ultimate guaranty in the faith of the people. If that faith should be lost, five or nine men in Washington could not long supply its want.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
Douglas v. Jeannette 319 U.S. 157, 181 (1943) [concurring]
(Source)

Jackson, Robert H. -- Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1, 26-27 (1947) [dissent]

Dave — Fri, 09 May 2008 21:35:13 +0000

The effect of the religious freedom Amendment to our Constitution was to take every form of propagation of religion out of the realm of things which could directly or indirectly be made public business, and thereby be supported in whole or in part at taxpayers’ expense. That is a difference which the Constitution sets up between religion and almost every other subject matter of legislation, a difference which goes to the very root of religious freedom and which the Court is overlooking today. This freedom was first in the Bill of Rights because it was first in the forefathers’ minds; it was set forth in absolute terms, and its strength is its rigidity. It was intended not only to keep the states’ hands out of religion, but to keep religion’s hands off the state, and, above all, to keep bitter religious controversy out of public life by denying to every denomination any advantage from getting control of public policy or the public purse.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1, 26-27 (1947) [dissent]
(Source)

Jackson, Robert H. -- Krulewitch v. United States, 336 U.S. 440, 458 (1949) [concurring]

Dave — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 06:17:44 +0000

The most odious of all oppressions are those which mask as justice.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
Krulewitch v. United States, 336 U.S. 440, 458 (1949) [concurring]
(Source)

Jackson, Robert H. -- Terminiello v. City of Chicago, 337 U.S. 37 (1949) [dissenting]

Dave — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 13:54:31 +0000

The Bill of Rights is not a suicide pact.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
Terminiello v. City of Chicago, 337 U.S. 37 (1949) [dissenting]
(Source)

Common paraphrase of Jackson's actual comment:

This Court has gone far toward accepting the doctrine that civil liberty means the removal of all restraints from these crowds, and that all local attempts to maintain order are impairments of the liberty of the citizen. The choice is not between order and liberty. It is between liberty with order and anarchy without either. There is danger that, if the Court does not temper its doctrinaire logic with a little practical wisdom, it will convert the constitutional Bill of Rights into a suicide pact.

Jackson, Robert H. -- United States v. Ballard, 322 U.S. 78 (1944) [dissent]

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

[T]he price of freedom of religion or of speech or of the press is that we must put up with, and even pay for, a good deal of rubbish.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
United States v. Ballard, 322 U.S. 78 (1944) [dissent]
(Source)

Jackson, Robert H. -- United States v. Ballard, 322 U.S. 78 (1944) [dissent]

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

It is plain that there is wide variety in American religious taste. The [defendants] are not alone in catering to it with a pretty dubious product.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
United States v. Ballard, 322 U.S. 78 (1944) [dissent]

Jackson, Robert H. -- United States v. Kahriger, 345 U.S. 36 (1953) [concurring]

Dave — Thu, 14 Jul 2022 14:19:34 +0000

The United States has a system of taxation by confession. That a people so numerous, scattered and individualistic annually assesses itself with a tax liability, often in highly burdensome amounts, is a reassuring sign of the stability and vitality of our system of self-government. What surprised me in once trying to help administer these laws was not to discover examples of recalcitrance, fraud or self-serving mistakes in reporting, but to discover that such derelictions were so few.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
United States v. Kahriger, 345 U.S. 36 (1953) [concurring]
(Source)

This is often misattributed to Hugo Black, who wrote a dissent in the case.

Jackson, Robert H. -- United States v. Spector, 343 US 169, 180 (1952) (dissenting)

Dave — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 15:03:27 +0000

We can afford no liberties with liberty itself.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
United States v. Spector, 343 US 169, 180 (1952) (dissenting)

Jackson, Robert H. -- Wells v. Simonds Abrasive Co., 345 U.S. 514, 525 (1953)

Dave — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 14:08:45 +0000

But the validity of a doctrine does not depend on whose ox it gores.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
Wells v. Simonds Abrasive Co., 345 U.S. 514, 525 (1953)

Jackson, Robert H. -- West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, 318-319 U.S. 624 (1943) [majority opinion]

Dave — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:14:10 +0000

Struggles to coerce uniformity of sentiment in support of some end thought essential to their time and country have been waged by many good, as well as by evil, men. Nationalism is a relatively recent phenomenon, but, at other times and places, the ends have been racial or territorial security, support of a dynasty or regime, and particular plans for saving souls. As first and moderate methods to attain unity have failed, those bent on its accomplishment must resort to an ever-increasing severity. […] Those who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters. Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, 318-319 U.S. 624 (1943) [majority opinion]
(Source)

Jackson, Robert H. -- West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943) [majority opinion]

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943) [majority opinion]
(Source)

Jackson, Robert H. -- West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943) [majority opinion]

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One’s rights to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943) [majority opinion]

Full decision

Jackson, Robert H. -- West Virginia State Board v. Barnette (1943)

Dave — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:04:22 +0000

Freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of the substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
West Virginia State Board v. Barnette (1943)

Jackson, Robert H. -- Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 131 (1943)

Dave — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:25:37 +0000

It is hardly lack of due process for the Government to regulate that which it subsidizes.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 131 (1943)

Jackson, Robert H. -- Woods v. Cloyd W. Miller Co., 333 U.S. 138, 146 (1948) (concurring)

Dave — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:26:40 +0000

No one will question that this power is the most dangerous one to free government in the whole catalogue of powers. It usually is invoked in haste and excitement when calm legislative consideration of constitutional limitation is difficult. It is executed in a time of patriotic fervor that makes moderation unpopular. And, worst of all, it is interpreted by judges under the influence of the same passions and pressures. Always, as in this case, the Government urges hasty decision to forestall some emergency or serve some purpose and pleads that paralysis will result if its claims to power are denied or their confirmation delayed.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
Woods v. Cloyd W. Miller Co., 333 U.S. 138, 146 (1948) (concurring)

On the executive "war power".

Jackson, Robert H. -- Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579 (1952) [concurring]

Dave — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:37:33 +0000

Nothing in our Constitution is plainer than that declaration of a war is entrusted only to Congress. Of course, a state of war may in fact exist without a formal declaration. But no doctrine that the Court could promulgate would seem to me more sinister and alarming than that a President whose conduct of foreign affairs is so largely uncontrolled, and often even is unknown, can vastly enlarge his mastery over the internal affairs of the country by his own commitment of the Nation’s armed forces to some foreign venture.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579 (1952) [concurring]

Jackson, Robert H. -- Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579 (1952) [concurring]

Dave — Thu, 01 May 2008 10:28:47 +0000

No penance would ever expiate the sin against free government of holding that a President can escape control of executive powers by law through assuming his military role.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579 (1952) [concurring]

Jackson, Robert H. -- Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U.S. 306 (1952) [dissent]

Dave — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:22:59 +0000

The day that this country ceases to be free for irreligion it will cease to be free for religion — except for the sect that can win political power.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U.S. 306 (1952) [dissent]

Jackson, Robert H. -- Zorach v. Clauson, 343 US 306, 324-325 (1952) [dissent]

Dave — Mon, 02 May 2011 13:54:18 +0000

My evangelistic brethren confuse an objection to compulsion with an objection to religion. It is possible to hold a faith with enough confidence that what should be rendered to God does not need to be decided and collected by Caesar.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
Zorach v. Clauson, 343 US 306, 324-325 (1952) [dissent]

Jackson, Robert H. -- International Conference on Military Trials, London (1945)

Dave — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:23:53 +0000

If certain acts of violation of treaties are crimes, they are crimes whether the United States does them or whether Germany does them, and we are not prepared to lay down a rule of criminal conduct against others which we would not be willing to have invoked against us.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
International Conference on Military Trials, London (1945)

US Dept. of State Publication No. 3080 (1949), p.330.

Jackson, Robert H. -- Nuremberg Trials, Opening remarks at trial of Hermann Goering (1946)

Dave — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 19:36:17 +0000

We must never forget that the record on which we judge these defendants today is the record on which history will judge us tomorrow. To pass these defendants a poisoned chalice is to put it to our own lips as well. We must summon such detachment and intellectual integrity to our task that this trial will commend itself to posterity as fulfilling humanity’s aspirations to do justice.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
Nuremberg Trials, Opening remarks at trial of Hermann Goering (1946)

Jackson, Robert H. -- Nuremberg Trials, Opening Statement (10 Nov 1945)

Dave — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:28:17 +0000

The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
Nuremberg Trials, Opening Statement (10 Nov 1945)

Jackson, Robert H. -- Nuremberg Trials, Opening Statement (10 Nov 1945)

Dave — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 13:05:22 +0000

If we can cultivate in the world the idea that aggressive war-making is the way to the prisoner’s dock rather than the way to honors, we will have accomplished something toward making the peace more secure.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
Nuremberg Trials, Opening Statement (10 Nov 1945)

Jackson, Robert H. -- Nuremberg Trials, Opening Statement (10 Nov 1945)

Dave — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:20:55 +0000

We must never forget that the record on which we judge these defendants is the record on which history will judge us tomorrow. To pass these defendants a poisoned chalice is to put it to our own lips as well.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
Nuremberg Trials, Opening Statement (10 Nov 1945)

Jackson, Robert H. -- Speech, Building Dedication, Jamestown High School, New York (1935-11-15)

Dave — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:35:37 +0000

Your job today tells me nothing of your future — your use of your leisure today tells me just what your tomorrow will be.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
Speech, Building Dedication, Jamestown High School, New York (1935-11-15)
(Source)

Quoted in Eugene Gerhart, America's Advocate: Robert H. Jackson, ch. 24 (1958).

Jackson, Robert H. -- Speech, Greater Buffalo Advertising Club, New York (1933)

Dave — Thu, 03 May 2012 12:40:33 +0000

When we went to school we were told that we were governed by laws, not men. As a result of that, many people think there is no need to pay any attention to judicial candidates because judges merely apply the law by some mathematical formula and a good judge and a bad judge all apply the same kind of law. The fact is that the most important part of a judge’s work is the exercise of judgment and that the law in a court is never better than the common sense judgment of the judge that is presiding.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
Speech, Greater Buffalo Advertising Club, New York (1933)
(Source)

Quoted in Eugene Gerhart, America's Advocate: Robert H. Jackson, ch. 4 (1958).