Quotes About Legislation

The bill neither confers nor abridges the rights of anyone but simply declares that in civil rights there shall be equality among all classes of citizens and that all alike shall be subject to the same punishment.

We have talked long enough in this country about equal rights. We have talked for a hundred years or more. It is time now to write the next chapter—and to write in the books of law.

We have talked long enough in this country about equal rights. ... It is time now to write the next chapter-and to write it in the books of law.

You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered.

In the ensuing debate Madison declared that "opinions are not the objects of legislation," and he worried aloud, "How far will this go? It may extend to the liberty of speech and of the press." Finally,

It's one thing to be religious, but it's another thing to make religion your policy.

I am a beneficiary of the American people's generosity, and I hope we can have comprehensive immigration legislation that allows this country to continue to be enriched by those who were not born here.

His goal was to secure approval of a law authorizing him to ignore the constitution, bypass the Reichstag, and govern by decree.

Since most law-abiding citizens had no contact with the parole system, it was not a priority with the state legislatures. And since most of the state's prisoners were either poor or black, and unable to use the system to their advantage, it was easy to hit them with harsh sentences and keep them locked up. But for an inmate with a few connections and some cash, the parole system was a marvelous labyrinth of contradictory laws that allowed the Parole Board to pass out favors.

banks and student loan companies had convinced Congress that such debts should be given special protection and not exempted. She remembered him saying, "Hell, even gamblers can go bankrupt and walk away.

The Constitution names only three federal offenses: treason, piracy, and counterfeiting. Today there are over forty-five hundred federal crimes, and the number continues to grow as Congress gets tougher on crime and federal prosecutors become more creative in finding ways to apply all their new laws.

the proliferation of the federal criminal code, now at twenty-seven thousand pages and counting.

This is Indian land, Ms. Stoltz, and all the rules that govern an orderly society, all the things you believe in, simply don't apply here. We govern ourselves. We make the laws. Neither the State of Florida nor the federal government has much say in what we do, especially when it comes to running the casino.

Her current one, adjunct professor of freshman literature, would expire in two weeks, courtesy of budget cuts brought on by a state legislature dominated by those rabid about tax and spending cuts. She had lobbied hard for a new contract

A fascist is anyone who, seeing a man working hard and earning money, says, He's getting more than we are, let's pass a law to take it away from him!

A law is not good merely because the legislature wills it, but the legislature has the mortal duty to will only that which is good.

But there is merit even in the mentally retarded legislator. He asks the questions that everyone is afraid to ask for fear of seeming simple.

The recurrent and sadly erroneous belief that effortless enrichment is an entitlement associated with what is thought to be exceptional financial perspicacity and wisdom is not something that yields to legislative remedy.

Portugal is the only country in the world where all drugs are legal.

Dildos are illegal in Texas.

From that position he pushed for national medical insurance, which the medical profession then advocated, and in 1916 he became president of the American Medical Association. In his presidential address he declared, "There are unmistakable signs that health insurance will constitute the next great step in social legislation.

in New York State coughing or sneezing without covering the face was now punishable by a year in jail and a $500 fine

Law without education is a dead letter. With education the needed law follows without effort and, of course, with power to execute itself; indeed, it seems to execute itself.

No one bill will cure the problem of spam. It will take a combined effort of legislation, litigation, enforcement, customer education, and technology solutions.