Legal Transparency Quotes

In the administration of justice all proceedings shall be public and oral to the widest possible extent.

The day you see a camera coming into the Supreme Court will be over my dead body.

One thing I know from personal experience, judges hate it when parties talk publicly about their cases. There are a lot of things about our criminal legal system that need to be changed, and this is just one of them. Prosecutors know how to play the press. Most defendants don't.

And if you take the cameras out of the courtroom, then you hide, I think, a certain measure of truth from the public, and I think that's very important for the American public to know.

I don't like juries having the wool pulled over their eyes. I don't think that's what the Constitution is about.

All things considered, defending our borders by building a fence to keep out people is a necessity. There is no more humane alternative when it comes to protecting ourselves. We must act humanely, within the law, while honoring transparency, but with firm resolve.

I think cameras should be in the courtroom, but they need to be managed properly. You need a judge to hold the line.

The American people have the right to know and understand the laws they live under. And they tend to demand answers sooner or later.

[The decisions made by the prosecutors were] stunningly arbitrary. These decisions are shrouded in such complete secrecy that they make the proceedings of the former English Court of Star Chamber appear to be a model of criminal justice transparency. We as judges can and should do more [to change the situation.]

Every judge is hereby admonished that if a demand is made upon him by any one, he shall give the reasons, in their proper order, for the decision he has made

I certainly think cameras ought to be in courtrooms.

There cannot be a law-abiding society if no one knows in advance what law they are to abide by, but must wait for judges to create ex post facto legal rulings based on “evolving standards” rather than known rules.

As China works towards the rule of law, it is critical that it continues to develop and strengthen its legal system. However, it should be recognized that this system is only as strong as the professionals who work to uphold it.

I think the law should be comprehensible not only to those who work with it but also to those who are governed by it.

Cameras should be the norm everywhere. It should be in every courtroom so that the proceedings are taken down and recorded just like stenography.