Antonin Scalia Quotes

It should be remembered, as an axiom of eternal truth in politics, that whatever power in any government is independent, is absolute also; in theory only, at first, while the spirit of the people is up, but in practice, as fast as that relaxes. Independence can be trusted nowhere but with the people in mass.

The public has to have a head, and if the President takes the heads away, the public will have his.

Whereas the constitution of … Holland is in its principles a popular representation, it is necessary that the right of the people be duly ascertained; that the members of the States be rendered responsible to them for their conduct and be precluded from taking any decisive step without their consent …

All I wanted was for the public to be able to have a say in how they are governed. That is a milestone we left a long time ago.

Everything in our foreign and domestic policy is a question of issue for the American people to vote on.

My government will respect the will of the people.

Representative government demands an ongoing conversation between legislators and constituents.

Upon you, fellow-citizens, as the representatives of the States and the people, is wisely devolved the legislative power.

Bringing democratic control to the conduct of foreign policy requires a struggle merely to force the issue onto the public agenda.

Where there is little or no public opinion, there is likely to be bad government, which sooner or later becomes autocratic government.

Having elected a government, we will be best advised to let it govern and to let it speak for us as it will in the councils of the nations.

The voice of the people must be heeded.

Our government has become a system rather than a living expression of the popular will.

Democracy is about aggregating the collective power of citizens to speak in their behalf.

The Sovereign: The People

In this country the government responds to the people, not the other way around.

As the power of the populace increases, the wisdom of its statesmen, who concern themselves with external affairs, decreases proportionately.

We" are not the government; the government is not "us." The government does not in any accurate sense "represent" the majority of the people

The will of the people... is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object

The wisdom and discretion of Congress ... are the restraints on which the people must often rely solely, in all representative governments

I trust the American People more than American Institutions.

...nations have no command over their governments, & in fact no influence over them, except of a fleeting & rather ineffectual sort.

… in a republic, who is "the Country"? Is it the Government which is for the moment in the saddle? Why, the Government is merely a servant -- merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them. Who, then, is "the Country"? Is it the newspaper? is it the pulpit? Is it the school superintendent? Why, these are mere parts of the country, not the whole of it; they have not command, they have only their little share in the command. They are but one in a thousand; it is in the thousand that command is lodged; they must determine what is right and what is wrong; they must decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Who are the thousand--that is to say, who are "the Country"?

In a democracy you get the army that the people are willing to pay for.

We need to be constantly reminded that this is a representative democracy, and we need to be in tune to what people are talking about.