I'm there for everybody. I'm not just there for the Democrats. I'm not just there for the Republicans. And I'm not just there because the president was a Democrat who appointed me, it's a very great privilege to be in that job. And part of it is to remember that you're there for everyone. They won't like what you say half the time – or more. But you're still there for them.

Stephen Breyer

We are selected, but I grew up in California and in San Francisco and there was a system of electing judges.

san-francisco california judging

Judges are appointed often through the political process by Stephen Breyer

Judges are appointed often through the political process

political judging process

What we have is ... an absolute road map for people who want to a... by Stephen Breyer

What we have is ... an absolute road map for people who want to avoid the 'point source' regulation.

You can't say never, if it always holds, we wouldn't have Brown versus Board [ of Education ]. But, if it never holds, we're really in trouble in terms of the stability of the law. Okay ? Wonderful. This has occurred to you, this problem. And do you have anything to say that will help me decide this kind of balance ?

Imagine I'm your client, forget I'm a judge. That's not too diffi... by Stephen Breyer

Imagine I'm your client, forget I'm a judge. That's not too difficult.

Look at the door we are opening up. by Stephen Breyer

Look at the door we are opening up.

The bail questions before us are technical but at heart they are simple, we need only recall the words of the Declaration of Independence, in particular its insistence that all men and women have ‘certain unalienable rights,’ and that among them is the right to liberty.

The apparent reason has nothing to do with the heinousness of their crimes, apparently the reason the State decided to proceed with these eight executions is that the 'use by' date of the state's execution drug is about to expire. In my view, that factor, when considered as a determining factor separating those who live from those who die, is close to random.

One could reasonably believe that if Tucker had committed the same crime just across the Red River in, say, Bossier Parish, he would not now be on death row.

(CNN anchor) Bernard Shaw -- we saw him on television -- said, 'They're going to nominate Judge Breyer.' Then I heard nothing for three hours, they're saying this on television, but no one's told me.

He was a good friend. by Stephen Breyer

He was a good friend.

I thought there couldn't be a more controversial question than th... by Stephen Breyer

I thought there couldn't be a more controversial question than the one before.

This is not what people expected when they wrote the cases upholding the death penalty more than forty years ago, and therefore I think it's time to revisit the issue.

What I wrote in the opinion - first to suggest sometimes its the wrong person. Second, if you look at who is actually executed it seems pretty arbitrary, third, if you look at the average length of time it takes from the time a person is sentenced to death to the time of execution - 18 years now.

This is not what people expected when they wrote the cases upholding the death penalty more than 40 years ago.

We believe it highly likely that the death penalty now violates t... by Stephen Breyer

We believe it highly likely that the death penalty now violates the Constitution.

We believe it highly likely that the death penalty now violates t... by Stephen Breyer

We believe it highly likely that the death penalty now violates the Eighth Amendment.

Well, my goodness ... it does sound as if the town is being a lit... by Stephen Breyer

Well, my goodness ... it does sound as if the town is being a little unreasonable, doesn't it?

All kinds of odd things can happen to a victim. by Stephen Breyer

All kinds of odd things can happen to a victim.

At least there's a political input, but when you put on the robe, at that point the politics is over.

over you politics political