William Rehnquist - Constitution Quotes

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If... a society adopts a constitution and incorporates in that constitution safeguards of individual liberty, these safeguards do indeed take on a general moral rightness or goodness. They assume a general social acceptance neither because of any intrinsic worth nor because of any unique origins in someone's idea of natural justice but instead simply because they have been incorporated in a constitution by the people.

William Rehnquist
The Constitution requires that Congress treat similarly situated persons similarly, not that it engage in gestures of superficial equality.

William Rehnquist
The Constitution does not guarantee the right to acquire information at a public library without any risk of embarrassment.

William Rehnquist
The framers of our Constitution came up with two major contributions to the art of government. The first was the idea of an executive not dependent on the political support of the legislature. The second was the idea of the judiciary independent of the executive and legislative branches.

William Rehnquist
A judge who is a 'strict constructionist' in constitutional matters will generally not be favorably inclined toward claims of either criminal defendants or civil rights plaintiffs—the latter two groups having been the principal beneficiaries of the Supreme Court's 'broad constructionist' reading of the Constitution.

William Rehnquist