For over 200 years after the adoption of the Second Amendment, it was uniformly understood as not placing any limit on either federal or state authority to enact gun control legislation.
John Paul Stevens
When I joined the Supreme Court in 1975, both state and federal judges accepted the Court's unanimous decision in United States v. Miller as having established that the Second Amendment's protection of the right to bear arms was possessed only by members of the militia and applied only to weapons used by the militia.
During my years as a practicing lawyer, it just was part of your study of what Congress was trying to say in their statutes. I never really considered judges or scholars as either those who used legislative history or those who were opposed to it until after I got on the court.
District of Columbia v. Heller, which recognized an individual right to possess a firearm under the Constitution, is unquestionably the most clearly incorrect decision that the Supreme Court announced during my tenure on the bench.
Although NFL teams have common interests such as promoting the NFL brand, they are still separate, profit-making entities, and their interests in licensing team trademarks are not necessarily aligned.
Sam Alito replacing Justice O'Connor was a very significant change. He is much more conservative. And, as for John Roberts, he is much more in the direction of protecting the rights of very rich people to donate money to campaigns than Bill Rehnquist ever was.
Of course, when I joined the Navy and when I took up the correspondence course in cryptography, I had to sign an oath that I would never reveal what sort of work I was involved in. It was only some years after the war that Congress passed a statute relieving me of that obligation.
The practice of executing such offenders is a relic of the past and is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency in a civilized society.
Public officials, including state legislators, have a duty to act impartially.
I am not a fan of President Trump, I should say. I wouldn't try to comment on every particular issue in which we disagree, but there are plenty of them.
When I signed on to letting the death penalty back in, I thought the procedural protections against executing an innocent person were stronger than they turned out to be.
I play duplicate bridge and I play golf and I go swimming once in a while.
To show a 'well-founded fear of persecution', an alien need not prove that it is more likely than not that he or she will be persecuted in his or her home country.
I had been born a Republican. My dad was an active Republican, but he was not active in politics and I really never was either. It's true that I did belong to that party, but it really had very little impact on my public work or my private views.
There was a fear among the original framers that the federal government would be so strong that they might destroy the state militias.
They may not be conscripted against their will as the foot soldiers in a federal crusade.
Colonial history contains many examples of firearm regulations in urban areas that imposed obstacles to their use for protection of the home.
To make a coverage decision, doesn't one have to make a medical judgment?
I announced my dissent in the Citizens United orally, and I stumbled in my announcement. I had a little difficulty expressing myself. And that was out of character.
It almost seems I was writing two separate books, the first one about the time before I went on the court and the second one about the many, many terms I was on the court.
The government must pursue a course of complete neutrality toward religion.
I think maybe the people in elected positions are more interested in preserving their jobs than in doing the best job possible.
I have been opposed to ceremonies at the White House. It gives the impression that the court is subordinate to the executive, which I think is quite wrong.
If you're interested in the job and in the kind of work that's done, you have to have an interest in who's going to fill your shoes.
I'm a person who plays Ping-Pong once in a while.
It is not our job to apply laws that have not yet been written.
I always prided myself on my ability to choose good clerks, and one of the key elements was whether I thought I would like the person.
Well, in my job, I avoid political commentary.
But I wound like people to think I was an honest judge and a good judge. And I always tried the reach the best result in every case.
All I can say is I did the best I could, and I didn't do well enough on many occasions.
While money is used to finance speech, money is not speech.
