Legislative Branch Quotes

• 'Empathy' is the latest code word for liberal activism, for treating the Constitution as malleable clay to be kneaded and molded in whatever form justices want. It represents an expansive view of the judiciary in which courts create policy that couldn't pass the legislative branch or, if it did, would generate voter backlash.

  Karl Rove

  Views, Justice, Empathy

  The Rachel Maddow Show, www.msnbc.com. May 28, 2009.

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• Ive been in the legislative branch and now the executive branch and in each case I felt it was important we use our constitutional responsibilities to the fullest.

  John Engler

  Responsibility, Important, Use

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• The Supreme Court and courts in general have been usurping the role of the legislative branch of government.

  Todd Akin

  Government, Roles, Branches

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• The executive branch has grown too strong, the judicial branch too arrogant and the legislative branch too stupid.

  Lyn Nofziger

  Strong, Stupid, Arrogant

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• I am mindful of the difference between the executive branch and the legislative branch. I assured all four of these leaders that I know the difference, and that difference is they pass the laws and I execute them.

  George W. Bush

  Humor, Law, Differences

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• The question whether the judges are invested with exclusive authority to decide on the constitutionality of a law has been heretofore a subject of consideration with me in the exercise of official duties. Certainly there is not a word in the Constitution which has given that power to them more than to the Executive or Legislative branches.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Exercise, Law, Judging

  Thomas Jefferson, J. Jefferson Looney (2004). “The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: 1 October 1814 to 31 August 1815”, p.525, Princeton University Press

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• Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.

  James Madison

  Government, Constitution Of The United States, Charity

  James Madison (1836). “The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution: As Recommended by the General Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. Together with the Journal of the Federal Convention, Luther Martin's Letter, Yates's Minutes, Congressional Opinions, Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of '98-'99, and Other Illustrations of the Constitution”, p.431

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• Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself.

  Mark Twain

  Funny, Life, Sarcastic

  Quoted in Albert B. Paine, Mark Twain: A Biography (1912)

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• In our system of government, the judicial and legislative branches have different roles. Judges are not politicians. Judges must decide cases, not champion causes. Judges must settle legal disputes, not pursue agendas. Judges must interpret and apply the law, not make the law.

  Orrin Hatch

  Government, Law, Judging

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

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• Our executive branch does not believe in interfering with what the legislative branch chooses to do. We believe in federalism.

  Kellyanne Conway

  Believe, Doe, Federalism

  Source: abcnews.go.com

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• No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another; and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Equality, Men, Rights

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies: From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson”, p.278

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• Experience has instructed us that no skill in the science of government has yet been able to discriminate and define, with sufficient certainty, its three great provinces the legislative, executive, and judiciary; or even the privileges and powers of the different legislative branches.

  James Madison

  Government, Skills, Different

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1842). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.164

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• So that the executive and legislative branches of the national government depend upon, and emanate from the states. Every where the state sovereignties are represented; and the national sovereignty, as such, has no representation.

  Joseph Story

  Government, Federalism, Branches

  Joseph Story (1873). “Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States: With a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States Before the Adoption of the Constitution”, p.370, Boston : Little, Brown

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• I am one who believes that the people's views and values are represented by those who they elect in the legislative branch and not unelected federal judges appointed for life.

  George Allen

  Believe, Views, People

  Source: www.nbcnews.com

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• I do think that there has to be a legal solution, a legal solution on the part of the nation's legislative branch, an immigration proposal.

  Marco Rubio

  Thinking, Immigration, Branches

  Source: www.univision.com

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• Apparently a great many people have forgotten that the framers of our Constitution went to such great effort to create an independent judicial branch that would not be subject to retaliation by either the executive branch or the legislative branch because of some decision made by those judges.

  Sandra Day O'Connor

  Independent, Judging, People

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• The Senate was the equivalent of an aristocracy at the beginning. Senators were not even elected; they were appointed in the early days. Then that changed, and senators did become elected. But the Senate is designed to slow down out-of-control, madcap activity elsewhere in the legislative branch (i.e., in the House), and the 60-vote rule was part of that.

  Rush Limbaugh

  House, Aristocracy, Branches

  Source: www.rushlimbaugh.com

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• Global climate change is real. The legislative branch of our government is our last line of defense against pollution which is why I am so grateful to have the NRDC making our voice heard.

  Kyra Sedgwick

  Real, Grateful, Voice

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• The U.S. has become a defacto one-party state, with the legislative branch permanently controlled by an incumbent's party and every president exploiting his role as Commander-in-Chief to expand on the imperial prerogatives of his office.

  Andrew Bacevich

  Party, Office, President

  "The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism". Book by Andrew Bacevich, 2008.

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• It's really not a stretch. The checks and balances are the same. The drums are the executive branch. The jazz orchestra is the legislative branch. Logic and reason are like jazz solos. The bass player is the judicial branch. One our greatest ever is Milt Hinton, and his nickname is "The Judge."

  Wynton Marsalis

  Player, Judging, Balance

  Interview with Vickie Karp, www.huffingtonpost.com. January 18, 2009.

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• Global warming may be a 'crisis,' even 'the most pressing environmental problem of our time.' ... Indeed, it may ultimately affect nearly everyone on the planet in some potentially adverse way, and it may be that governments have done too little to address it. It is not a problem, however, that has escaped the attention of policymakers in the Executive and Legislative Branches of our Government, who continue to consider regulatory, legislative, and treaty-based means of addressing global climate change.

  John Roberts

  Mean, Government, Environmental

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• [Nicolas Maduro] completely controls the judicial branch, controls the courts, has denied their basic rights and the responsibility that the legislative branch has in that country.

  Marco Rubio

  Country, Responsibility, Rights

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• The government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like the state governments, whose powers are more general. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.

  James Madison

  Government, United States, Charity

  James Madison (1836). “The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution: As Recommended by the General Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. Together with the Journal of the Federal Convention, Luther Martin's Letter, Yates's Minutes, Congressional Opinions, Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of '98-'99, and Other Illustrations of the Constitution”, p.431

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• We are very hip on the fact that America's always No. 1. On this we are not, in terms of the number of women in our legislative branches and obviously as head of state. We need to push on that. I hate to say this: It isn't all men's fault. I think some of it is our own attitude and approach. Some of it very healthy, that women want to make choices about their lives and how they want to spend their time, and what they value.

  Madeleine Albright

  Attitude, Hate, Men

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• The pornography of tough-mindedness, covert action, and preparedness for "peace through strength" has had a predictably hypnotic effect on the legislative branch, turning it from legal watchdog to lapdog.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Branches, Action, Tough

  Christopher Hitchens (2014). “For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports”, p.46, Atlantic Books Ltd

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