James Madison Quotes

No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause; because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity. With equal, nay with greater reason, a body of men are unfit to be both judges and parties at the same time.

No man can be judge to his own cause.

Neither side is guiltless if its adversary is appointed judge.

No one should be judge in his own case.

I would draw a really big distinction between competition, or potential competition, and a conflict of interest. A conflict of interest implies wrongdoing, whereas competition is really healthy.

No man must be Judge who propounds unto himself any hope of profit, or glory, from the victory of either party.

nobody is a good judge in his own cause!

When it is left entirely to a judge to decide whether he should give place to another he becomes a judge in his case....

Judges shall judge justly, according to the written law and not according to their own judgment.

He must be one that respects the Cause, and not the persons in all his Administrations…. If his Affections Oversway his judgment at any time, they will be a crooked Bias, that will turn him out of the way, and that shall be justice in one man's case, which will not be so in another. He must be one whom neither Flattery nor Bribery may be able to remove out of his way. Finally, he must be one who prefers the publick Benefit above all private and separate Interests whatsoever

A judge who likes every opinion he reaches is a bad judge.

In some cases, Justice Department leaders can supervise investigations despite having personal knowledge about the entities involved.

After all, a district judge who gives harsh sentences to Yankees fans and lenient sentences to Red Sox fans would not be acting reasonably even if her procedural rulings were impeccable.

We must remember that we have to make judges out of men, and that by being made judges their prejudices are not diminished and their intelligence is not increased.

A Judge may be a farmer; but he is not to geld his own pigs.

I have heard that a man might be his own lawyer, but you can't be your own judge.

The reasonableness of the agency of the national courts in cases in which the state tribunals cannot be supposed to be impartial, speaks for itself. No man ought certainly to be a judge in his own cause, or in any cause in respect to which he has the least interest or bias.

I think it's true that we shouldn't apply a strict litmus test and the most important thing in any judge is their capacity to provide fairness and justice to the American people.

And seeing every man is presumed to do all things in order to his own benefit, no man is a fit Arbitrator in his own cause

As, for the safety of society, we commit honest maniacs to Bedlam, so judges should be withdrawn from their bench, whose erroneous biases are leading us to dissolution. It may indeed injure them in fame or in fortune; but it saves the republic, which is the first and supreme law.

People in the world pay little heed to reason where their own interests are involved.

Nominees [to Supreme Court] shouldn't be expected to pre-commit to ruling on certain issues in a certain way. Nor should senators ask nominees to pledge to rule on issues in a particular way.

We must apply a judicial, not a political, standard to this record. Asking a judicial nominee whose side you will be on in future cases is a political standard.

When I became a judge, I stopped being a practicing attorney. And that was a big change in role.The role of a practicing attorney is to achieve a desirable result for the client in the particular case at hand. But a judge can't think that way. A judge can't have any agenda, a judge can't have any preferred outcome in any particular case and a judge certainly doesn't have a client.