The courts are an easy scapegoat because at a time when everything has to boiled down to easy slogans, we speak in subtleties.

Courts are an aristocratic institution in a democracy. That's the dilemma for an institution that has the function of reviewing the will of the people. We're bound to be "anti-majoritarian."

The role of the press and the protections which we afford it are today more important than ever before, because we dwell in a society where belief in our governments and in the strength of our institutions is declining.

We 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.

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.

It is easy to be popular. It is not easy to be just.

If our courts lose their authority and their rulings are no longer respected, there will be no one left to resolve the divisive issues that can rip the social fabric apart ... The courts are a safety valve without which no democratic society can survive.