"Probably the worst thing that has happened..." - Quote by H L Mencken
Probably the worst thing that has happened in America in my time is the decay of confidence in the courts. No one can be sure any more that in a given case they will uphold the plainest mandate of the Constitution. On the contrary, everyone begins to be more or less convinced in advance that they won't. Judges are chosen not because they know the Constitution and are in favor of it, but precisely because they appear to be against it.
More by H L Mencken
“One may no more live in the world without picking up the moral prejudices of the world than one will be able to go to hell without perspiring.”
“Life is a constant oscillation between the sharp horns of dilemmas.”
“One horse-laugh is worth ten thousand syllogisms. It is not only more effective; it is also vastly more intelligent.”
More on Justice System
“A joke, even if it be a lame one, is nowhere so keenly relished or quickly applauded as in a murder trial.”
“I don't want to exaggerate; having as many African American men as we've had in the criminal-justice system, and the amount of time it takes for the damage done by that to wash through our society and our communities, the disadvantages born out of kids being undiagnosed with mental-health problems early, or not getting the kind of exposure to reading and math when they're 4 or 5 or 6 years old, that carries a cost.”
“I'm a career prosecutor. I have been trained, and my experience over decades, is to make decisions after a review of the evidence and the facts. And not to jump up with grand gestures before I've done that. Some might interpret that as being cautious. I would tell you that's just responsible.”
More on Law
“A good lawyer knows the law; a clever one takes the judge to lunch.”
“Where every man in a state has a vote, brutal laws are impossible.”
“Your thought describes laws, courts, judges, punishments. Mine explains that when man makes a law, he either violates it or obeys it. If there is a basic law, we are all one before it. He who disdains the mean is himself mean. He who vaunts his scorn of the sinful vaunts his disdain of all humanity.”