Sonia Sotomayor Quotes

I have come to learn that preliminary judgments are not judgments.

You should not decide until you have heard what both have to say.

I don't prejudge issues. I come to every case with an open mind. Every case is new to me.

It is very important when you judge to recognize that you have to stay impartial. That's what the nature of my job is. I have to unhook myself from my emotional responses and try to stay within my unemotional, objective persona.

It sounds funny, but I always try to keep an open mind about what I'm writing about. Sometimes I squeak my opinions in there, but generally I don't. I try to be objective about things that I'm writing about.

If you would be a good judge, hear what every one says.

I wish at all events to retain at all times a judicial habit of not condemning a thing utterly until I have heard what is to be said for it.

I do not decide cases based on personal or policy preferences.

I don't want preconceptions. I want to learn as much as possible.

Common sense, proportionality, and judgment are the skills we must seek in those we choose to regulate our lives.

To give a satisfactory decision as to the truth it is necessary to be rather an arbitrator than a party to the dispute.

It is important not to give the appearance of a predisposed mind. And it is more important not to let the mind become predisposed.

You should just evaluate the work and make your judgments accordingly. That's the way you do it in life and every other subject.

No one should be judge in his own case.

My uncle was famous for his balanced point of view. At the time of which I am writing (when he was nearly seventy) it had become so balanced, that the act of balancing seemed rather automatic.One had only to offer him an opinion for him to balance it with a counter- opinion of exactly the same weight, as a grocer puts a pound weight against a pound of sugar.

By staying neutral, I end up being somebody that everybody can trust. Even if they don't always agree with my decisions, they know I'm not working against them.

If you judge, investigate.

All who consult on doubtful matters, should be void of hatred, friendship, anger, and pity.

In the hands of good writers, you have the opportunity to present both sides of an opinion equally and that you leave it to the audience to listen and then make up their own minds.

When you talk to family and friends, they can't tell you anything from an impartial point of view because they have a vested interest in you.

Dispassionate objectivity is itself a passion, for the real and for the truth.

In all my years of play, I never saw an ump deliberately make an unfair decision. They really called them as they saw 'em.

The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they do not know the game.

What people call impartiality may simply mean indifference, and what people call partiality may simply mean mental activity.

If I'm lucky enough to be involved in the Academy Awards in the future, I'll just let people make up their decision without being involved in any politics. Because it shouldn't involve that.