Stephen Gillers Quotations

It's not a basis for disqualification, so long as neither child is involved in the case.

The rules dealing with gifts don't apply to Justice Thomas because the rules only apply to lower court judges. People give gifts to judges and justices because they have power. And they have power because of their position that they hold in trust. And to suggest that it doesn't matter, no one will care, seems to me to be whistling in the dark.

For a court to award that kind of money, the court has to find an utter lack of basis

It is hardly possible that a person could achieve nomination for appointment to the United States Supreme Court and yet have no opinions about the significant constitutional issues and cases of our day, ... And the fact that the nominee does have such opinions and voices them will not undermine impartiality or the appearance of impartiality such that he or she would be disqualified when those issues or cases come before the court.

It's unfortunate of course that what kept him from the swearing in was an activity that is itself of dubious ethical propriety.

They suffered because of it, ... They were fearful because of it. They were in need of counseling because of it.

Immanuel Kant would've made a lousy lawyer, but a great judge!

Some trials look as much like the trial of an ordinary criminal case as a Hitchcock film looks like a home movie.

From the media's perspective, extremes are news, ... completely distorted by the emphasis on what I would call the grotesque or extreme cases.

The lawyer can reveal anything he is not forbidden to reveal. There are rules governing what a lawyer can say publicly about a litigation proceeding and those are meant to balance the interest in public discussion and the interest in an untainted trial.