Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Quotes

• Equal justice under law is not merely a caption on the facade of the Supreme Court building, it is perhaps the most inspiring ideal of our society. It is one of the ends for which our entire legal system exists...it is fundamental that justice should be the same, in substance and availability, without regard to economic status.

  Lewis F. Powell, Jr.

  Inspirational, Equality, Availability

  81 Copy quote

• History balances the frustration of 'how far we have to go' with the satisfaction of 'how far we have come.' It teaches us tolerance for the human shortcomings and imperfections which are not uniquely of our generation, but of all time.

  Lewis F. Powell, Jr.

  Frustration, Our Generation, Imperfection

  30 Copy quote

• An orderly society cannot exist if every man may decide which laws he will obey.

  Lewis F. Powell, Jr.

  Men, Law, May

  14 Copy quote

• The guarantee of equal protection cannot mean one thing when applied to one individual and something else when applied to a person of another color. If both are not accorded the same protection, then it is not equal.

  Lewis F. Powell, Jr.

  Mean, Equality, Color

  15 Copy quote

• Under the First Amendment there is no such thing as a false idea. However pernicious an opinion may seem, we depend for its correction not on the conscience of judges and juries but on the competition of other ideas.

  Lewis F. Powell, Jr.

  Ideas, Judging, Competition

  Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. (1974)

  11 Copy quote

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