Latest Sam Brownback Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• And you can claim whatever you want to of being pro-life or pro- choice, but the right to a abortion is not in the Constitution. The court created it. It created a constitutional right. And these decisions removed a fully appropriate political judgment from the people of the several states and has led to many adverse consequences.

  Sam Brownback

  People, Choices, Pro Life

  "U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Judge Samuel Alito's Nomination to the Supreme Court". www.washingtonpost.com. January 9, 2006.

• [Jane] Roe has made it not only possible, but has found it constitutional to kill a whole class of people, simply because of their genetic make-up.

  Sam Brownback

  Class, People, Made

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

• We are at our best when we help the weakest. The weak make us strong.

  Sam Brownback

  Strong, Helping, Weak

  Sam Brownback's speech at the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Judge Samuel Alito's Nomination to the Supreme Court, www.washingtonpost.com. January 9, 2006.

• To kill [children in the womb] makes us all the poorer, insensitive, calloused and jaded.

  Sam Brownback

  Children, Womb, Insensitive

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

• As I noted to my colleagues in the Roberts' hearings, in a year between 80 percent to 90 percent of the children in America diagnosed with Down's Syndrome will be killed in the womb simply because they have a positive genetic test which can be wrong, and is often wrong, but they would have a positive genetic test for Down's Syndrome and they will be killed.America is poorer because of such a policy.

  Sam Brownback

  Children, Years, America

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

• The Supreme Court has also issued and never reversed a number of decisions that are repugnant to the Constitution's vision of human dignity and equality.

  Sam Brownback

  Numbers, Decision, Vision

  Sam Brownback's speech at the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Judge Samuel Alito's Nomination to the Supreme Court, www.washingtonpost.com. January 9, 2006.

• Among the most famous of these Supreme Court cases of exercise of political power I believe are the cases of Roe V. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, two 1973 cases based on false statements which created a constitutional right to abortion.

  Sam Brownback

  Believe, Exercise, Two

  "U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Judge Samuel Alito's Nomination to the Supreme Court". www.washingtonpost.com. January 9, 2006.

• The court's injected itself in the definition of marriage, deciding whether or not human life is worth protecting, permitting government to transfer private property from one person to another, even interpreting the Constitution on the basis of foreign and international laws.

  Sam Brownback

  Government, Law, Definitions

  Senate Confirmation Hearings - Day 1, www.nytimes.com. January 9, 2006.

• I stated at Justice [John] Roberts' hearing, the court's injected itself into many of the political debates of our day.

  Sam Brownback

  Justice, Political, Hearing

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

• History has shown that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg did, in fact, dramatically change the balance of the court in many critical areas, such as abortion, the privacy debate expansion and child pornography.

  Sam Brownback

  Children, Justice, Abortion

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

• In recent years, even as the court has become an increasingly political body, the Senate is not focused on preserving any perceived ideological balance when Democrat presidents have appointed people to the court.

  Sam Brownback

  Years, People, Political

  Sam Brownback's speech at the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Judge Samuel Alito's Nomination to the Supreme Court, www.washingtonpost.com. January 9, 2006.

• When Ruth Bader Ginsburg came in front of the Senate and was approved 96-3 to be on the Supreme Court to replace conservative justice Byron White. This is in 1993.Now, Justice Ginsburg, it was noted earlier, was a general counsel for the ACLU, certainly a liberal group. It was abundantly clear during the confirmation hearing that Ginsburg would swing the balance of the court to the left.But because President [Bill] Clinton won the election and because Justice Ginsburg clearly had the intellectual ability and integrity to serve on the court, she was confirmed.

  Sam Brownback

  Integrity, Swings, White

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

• I want to note that, historically, the make-up of the court has changed just as elected branches have change.

  Sam Brownback

  Branches, Want, Notes

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

• [Felix Frankfurter] said courts are not representative bodies. They're not designed to be a good reflex of a democratic society. Their judgment is best informed and, therefore, most dependable within narrow limits.

  Sam Brownback

  Body, Limits, Judgment

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

• Seats on the [Court] bench are not reserved for causes or interests. They're given to those who will uphold the rule of law so long as the nominee is well-qualified to interpret and apply the law.

  Sam Brownback

  Law, Long, Benches

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

• It may seem ironic that the judicial branch preserves its legitimacy through refraining from action on political questions. That concept was put forward best by Justice [Felix] Frankfurter, appointed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

  Sam Brownback

  Justice, Political, Ironic

  "U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Judge Samuel Alito's Nomination to the Supreme Court". www.washingtonpost.com. January 9, 2006.

• Narrow scope of judicial power was the reason that people accepted the idea that the federal courts could have the power of judicial review; that is, the ability to decide whether a challenged law comports with the Constitution.

  Sam Brownback

  Law, Ideas, People

  U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Judge Samuel Alito's Nomination to the Supreme Court, www.washingtonpost.com. January 9, 2006.

• The people believed that while the courts would be independent, they would defer to the political branches on policy issues.

  Sam Brownback

  Independent, Issues, People

  "U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Judge Samuel Alito's Nomination to the Supreme Court". www.washingtonpost.com. January 9, 2006.

• You can look at founding father Alexander Hamilton nevertheless assuring - assuring - the countrymen in Federalist 78 that the role of the federal courts under the proposed Constitution would be limited.

  Sam Brownback

  Father, Roles, Looks

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

• I believe you [Samuel Alito] and others would look and say that the role of the courts is limited and it's not to decide political matters.

  Sam Brownback

  Believe, Political, Looks

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

• Most Americans want judges who will stick to interpreting the law rather than making it.

  Sam Brownback

  Law, Judging, Want

  U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Judge Samuel Alito's Nomination to the Supreme Court, www.washingtonpost.com. January 9, 2006.

• I believe, assume the power to decide more political than legal issues in nature, the people naturally focus less on the law and more on the lawyers that are chosen really to administer the law.

  Sam Brownback

  Believe, Law, Issues

  U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Judge Samuel Alito's Nomination to the Supreme Court, www.washingtonpost.com. January 9, 2006.

• It is far easier to get divorced from somebody you've been married to for 10 years and have three children by than to fire somebody that's worked for you for one year.

  Sam Brownback

  Children, Fire, Years

• I really believe, in my heart and soul, that if we would rebuild and strengthen the family structure in the country, you'd start to really deal with a number of the most difficult problems we're having in the country today, in poverty, education, and in crime, but we've broken the family structure up.

  Sam Brownback

  Country, Believe, Heart

• If you get married, you lose all your benefits. That's insane! We should give people bonuses for getting married, and sending signals and talking about it to the society.

  Sam Brownback

  Talking, People, Giving