My role isn't to be politically smart. My role is to do what's right under the constitution. And if that's politically unpopular, so be it.
Rose BirdThe judiciary must not take on the coloration of whatever may be popular at the moment. We are guardian of rights, and we have to tell people things they often do not like to hear.
Rose BirdThe courts are an easy scapegoat because at a time when everything has to boiled down to easy slogans, we speak in subtleties.
Rose BirdWe are incarcerating more people on a per capita basis in California than any country in the world other than South Africa or the Soviet Union.
Rose Bird