Douglas Kmiec Quotations

But he was entirely reliant on the quality of legal advice he received.

I don't think among the favored categories of gender and ethnicity, beyond Al Gonzales, the president has an obvious choice.

Suddenly, a blockage that had existed for at least 50 years was removed. What the Reagan administration was able to do was recover the original understanding of the religion clauses. Neutrality toward religion does not mean secularity. It means evenhandedness.

We should look for a court with a lowered profile, a court that tries to resolve cases but one that does not discover new constitutional rights.

Edith Jones would in all likelihood trigger strong opposition.

He's actually demonstrated that he's grown comfortable with the public interaction in a way that wasn't entirely true when he had his own confirmation hearings, where he appeared tentative.

The Rehnquist court ... attempted to restore dual sovereignty and the conception that states have functions that cannot be displaced by the federal government.

You would have to show that your vote is diluted by recounting. That seems unlikely given all the recounting there has been in the past

I think what happens in this process is there is an initial search and so much work is required to satisfy the competing constituencies that once a list is assembled, few people want to give it up. Some of the names on the list are almost venerable by virtue of age and longevity. There is a certain comfort in going with what you know, but it may not be the best.

I think it's unfortunate that we're still at a point in our nation where we have to ask these questions.