John Paul Stevens

“It is not our job to apply laws that have not yet been written.”

“The question is not whether the death penalty is a deterrent, but whether it is a just and proportionate punishment.”

“The notion that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to own a gun is a modern invention.”

“The Court must be the final arbiter of what the law is, but it is not the final arbiter of what is right.”

“The single most important change in the law since I came on the Court has been the Court's interpretation of the First Amendment.”

“The idea that a corporation can be a 'person' for purposes of the First Amendment is a legal fiction.”

“It is the judge's duty to be impartial and to be patient, to be courteous and to be kind.”

“It is fundamental that the state should not be able to punish a person for expressing his views.”

“The 'right to die' is a euphemism for the right to kill oneself.”

“The preservation of the rule of law is the highest ideal of the lawyer.”

“A rule that is not applied evenhandedly is not a rule of law.”

“We must never forget that it is a constitution we are expounding.”

“Patriotism is a high and holy thing, but it is not a blind and unreasoning passion.”

“The concept of 'substantive due process' is a contradiction in terms.”

“The equal protection of the laws is a 'moral concept, an ethical ideal...a constitutional goal,' not a mathematical formula.”

“The First Amendment is not a panacea for every social ill.”