We dedicated ourselves to a powerful idea - organic law rather than naked power. There seems to be universal acceptance of that idea in the nation.
Potter StewartRead
Swift justice demands more than just swiftness.
Interpretation
True justice requires not only speed but also fairness and thoroughness.
This quote emphasizes that while it is important for justice to be delivered swiftly, it is equally crucial that the process is just and fair. Rushing to a conclusion without careful consideration of the facts can lead to unjust outcomes, highlighting the need for a balance between timeliness and thoroughness in the pursuit of justice.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the legal system during a debate.
We dedicated ourselves to a powerful idea - organic law rather than naked power. There seems to be universal acceptance of that idea in the nation.
Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do.
A person's mere propinquity to others independently suspected of criminal activity does not give rise to probable cause to search that person.
It must always be remembered that what the Constitution forbids is not all searches and seizures, but unreasonable searches and seizures.
The 4th Amendment and the personal rights it secures have a long history. At the very core stands the right of a man to retreat into his own home and there be free from unreasonable governmental intrusion.
For the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places. What a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection. But what he seeks to preserve as private, even in an area accessible to the public, may be constitutionally protected.
The people who have been unjustly disenfranchised by our criminal justice system and the people who daily fight for them always have, and always will be, the inspiration and focus of my efforts.
I cannot see any of these death penalty cases where there hasn't been a violation on the ground of either poverty or race. If we can ever get that straightened out, it will help. But, of course, the real answer to it is to do away with the death penalty.
Justice and goodwill will outlast passion.
The power to arrest - to deprive a citizen of liberty - must be used fairly, responsibly, and without bias.
Mere access to the courthouse doors does not by itself assure a proper functioning of the adversary process.
I was tremendously fortunate to be alive and a lawyer, working at a university so I had more flexible hours, when the women's movement was coming alive and when it became possible to argue successfully for a view of the equal protection clause that included women.
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