Charles Fried Quotes

The main thing that drew me to him was that he was a beautiful writer, not just the clarity but the aptness of expression.

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If only people who are ideologically committed to a particular outcome argued to the courts, the law would be worse off.

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Rehnquist thought [the court] had gone way too far, and in many dissents was working to cut it back. He succeeded, and he began to succeed even before he became chief justice. He gradually cut back federal-court supervision of state prosecutions. [The death penalty ban] was reversed. And the limits upon prosecutors and police were rationalized and relaxed.

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My impression of him, and the impressions of everyone in the office, was he is a very fine lawyer, a very hard worker, a beautiful writer and absolutely, meticulously objective.

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[These may indicate an inability to] think lucidly and deeply about legal questions and express her thoughts in clear, pointed, understandable prose,.. A justice without those capabilities -- however generally intelligent, decent and hardworking -- risks being a calamity for the court, the law, and the country.

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