Sandra Day O'Connor Quotes

It is difficult to discern a serious threat to religious liberty from a room of silent, thoughtful schoolchildren.

The proper role of the judiciary is one of interpreting and applying the law, not making it.

I do not believe it is the function of the judiciary to step in and change the law because the times have changed. I do well understand the difference between legislating and judging. As a judge, it is not my function to develop public policy.

Liberty finds no refuge in a jurisprudence of doubt.

Do the best you can in every task, no matter how unimportant it may seem at the time.

We have long since made it clear that a state of war is not a blank check for the President when it comes to the rights of the Nation's citizens.

In Boumediene v. Bush, the Supreme Court held that the United States’ exercise of authority over Guantánamo gave the detainees a constitutional right to bring their habeas corpus claims in federal district courts. The Court also held that the procedures authorized under the Military Commissions Act, which called for military tribunals to look into the detention of the Guantánamo detainees, were not an adequate substitute for habeas. As the Court explained, “[t]he laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, even in extraordinary times. Liberty and security can be reconciled; and in our system, they are reconciled within the framework of the law.”17