Warren E. Burger

“The idea of a fair trial is the bedrock of our justice system.”

“A rigid application of the exclusionary rule... can neither logically contribute to the deterrence of Fourth Amendment violations nor advance the cause of justice.”

“The right to be heard would be, in many cases, of little avail if it did not comprehend the right to be heard by counsel.”

“It is not the function of the judges to step in and change the law because they don't like it.”

“The notion that most people want black-robed judges, well-dressed lawyers and fine-paneled courtrooms as the setting to resolve their disputes is not correct. People with problems, like people with pains, want relief, and they want it as quickly and inexpensively as possible.”

“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 to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts.”

“There can be no assumption that today's majority is 'right' and the Amish and others like them are 'wrong.' A way of life that is odd or even erratic but interferes with no rights or interests of others is not to be condemned because it is different.”

“We may be well on our way to a society overrun by hordes of lawyers, hungry as locusts.”

“Crime and the fear of crime have permeated the fabric of American life.”

“Free speech carries with it some freedom to listen.”

“The function of law is to provide a framework of stability and certainty.”

“The Bill of Rights is a born rebel. It reeks with sedition. In every clause it shakes its fist in the face of constituted authority.”

“The Second Amendment's drafters' principal concern was to ensure the existence and vitality of the state militias.”

“Judges are not politicians, and they should not be influenced by political pressure.”

“A sense of confidence in the courts is essential to maintain the fabric of ordered liberty for a free people.”