William Rehnquist

“The idea of a 'living Constitution' has in the last half-century gotten out of hand.”

“But the same society that has changed in the last 200 years has a legislature. The legislature is made up of people who are elected by the people. And if people want to change the Constitution, there is a way to do that in the Constitution, in Article V. It’s not a living organism, it’s a legal document.”

“The 'wall of separation between church and state' is a metaphor based on bad history, a metaphor which has proved useless as a guide to judging. It should be frankly and explicitly abandoned.”

“The difference between the majority and the dissent is that the majority has five votes and the dissent has four.”

“The framers of the First Amendment were not architects of absolutism.”

“It is one of the unhappy incidents of the federal system that a self-righteous Supreme Court, in performing its duties, has overturned the decisions of states' lawmakers.”

“The public has a right to every man’s evidence.”

“There is no reason why the state cannot favor religion generally.”

“The meaning of the Constitution does not change from year to year, from presidential term to presidential term.”

“A governor's authority to command the national guard is at its zenith in peacetime and for domestic purposes.”