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Absent scandal, a federal judge can serve for decades on the bench, underscoring the importance of appointing judges who have a proper understanding of their constitutional role.

I own that it is a good deal of a mystery to me how judges, of all persons in the world, should put their faith in dicta. A brief experience on the bench was enough to reveal to me all sorts of cracks and crevices and loopholes in my own opinions when picked up a few months after delivery and reread with due contrition.

Sometimes it is easy... to enhance your prestige by not exercising your responsibility, but that's not been the tradition of the court.

We're seeing the fulfillment of the Book of Judges here in our own time - every man doing that which is right in his own eyes.

I think people just find it remarkable that a high court justice would step out from behind the bench and have a persona that's not the traditional, stodgy, fuddy-duddy persona, but actually comes across as authentic and engaging.

Were I ever alone in the dock, I would not want to be arraigned before our flawed tribunals, knowing my freedom could be forfeit as a result of political pressures. I would prefer a fair trial, under the shadow of the noose.

It is a mistake to suppose that the Supreme Court is either honoured or helped by being spoken of as beyond criticism. On the contrary, the life and character of its justices should be the objects of constant watchfulness by all, and its judgments subject to the freest criticism.

When I first took the bench, I was assigned to handle a calendar of criminal cases. It was an enormous docket. I tried in each case to make sure that the litigants not only in fact received, but also felt that they had received, a full and fair opportunity to be heard.

All judges have cases that touch our passions deeply, but we all struggle constantly with remaining impartial.

The Courtroom is a battlefield, and oral argument requires a fair amount of verbal jousting and sparring with the Justices.