Richard Garnett Quotations

It's actually kind of a recent idea that in order to judge a nominee, you had to have tons and tons of paper, ... For most of history it was, you know, someone's nominated, probably a friend of the president ... You had hearings, and in the hearings you asked some questions, and the questions gave you the answers, and that was it. No one asked about how you were going to rule in Roe v. Wade, how you were going to rule in Miranda, whatever.

This year, the whole court seems to be willing to go along with clear, concise, yet not very sweeping decisions. Some of these cases had the potential to be controversial, but they are focusing on the issues they agree on.

Before Chief Justice Rehnquist, it really was like nine scorpions in a bottle.

It's not the usual thing, but it doesn't strike me as being troubling. It would be a mistake to read it as payback.

really did dramatically reshape the conversation about federal power.

I think he's happy now just getting his work done, and the work of the other justices done. He takes that leadership role seriously.

It's been awhile since the Supreme Court had any new members, ... And one thing we've seen is that when the Court gets a new member, no matter what that member's views are, it sometimes tends to change the dynamics. When Justice Thomas came on the Court, Justice Souter started voting differently.

When he was first on the court, he was challenging the dominant way of thinking. But when he became chief, he decided his role was different. The chief has a stewardship obligation, in his view, and is the face of the court and caretaker of the institution. That's bound to change the way you do things.

Liberal justices like Thurgood Marshall and Ruth Bader Ginsburg think as highly of him as someone like Clarence Thomas. I think that's a testament to the respect he enjoys.

He's not pacing the floor, ruminating on his future. He's focused on doing the court's business, making sure the other justices do their business.