Byron White (1917-2002) was an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1962 to 1993. Born in Fort Collins, Colorado, White graduated from the University of Colorado and attended Yale Law School. Before joining the Supreme Court, he had a notable career as a lawyer and played professional football with the Pittsburgh Pirates (now the Pittsburgh Steelers). Appointed by President John F. Kennedy, White was known for his conservative and pragmatic judicial philosophy. He emphasized judicial restraint, focusing on the practical implications of legal decisions rather than expanding constitutional rights. White’s legacy includes his balanced approach to legal issues and his commitment to maintaining judicial stability.

Byron White Quotes

1. “A right to jury trial is granted to criminal defendants in order to prevent oppression by the Government.”
— Byron White

2. “We’re the only branch of government that explains itself in writing every time it makes a decision.”
— Byron White

3. “When the whistle blows you have only a limited amount of time to do what you have to do. You either do it then or you don’t do it at all.”
— Byron White

4. “The Court is most vulnerable and comes nearest to illegitimacy when it deals with judge-made constitutional law having little or no cognizable roots in the language or design of the Constitution…. There should be, therefore, great resistance to … redefining the category of rights deemed to be fundamental. Otherwise, the Judiciary necessarily takes to itself further authority to govern the country without express constitutional authority.”
— Byron White

5. “The 1st Amendment protects the right to speak, not the right to spend.”
— Byron White

6. “The Court is most vulnerable and comes nearest to illegitimacy when it deals with judge-made constitutional law having little or no cognizable roots in the language or design of the Constitution.”
— Byron White

7. “The law is constantly based on notions of morality, and if all laws representing essentially moral choices are to be invalidated under the due process clause, the courts will be very busy indeed.”
— Byron White

8. “The role of the judge is simply to decide cases.”
— Byron White

9. “To exclude all jurors who would be in the slightest way affected by the prospect of the death penalty would be to deprive the defendant of the impartial jury to which he or she is entitled under the law.”
— Byron White

10. “Sports constantly make demands on the participant for top performance, and they develop integrity, self-reliance and initiative. They teach you a lot about working in groups, without being unduly submerged in the group.”
— Byron White

11. “It is not better that all felony suspects die than that they escape. Where the suspect poses no immediate threat to the officer and no threat to others, the harm resulting from failing to apprehend him does not justify the use of deadly force to do so. It is no doubt unfortunate when a suspect who is in sight escapes, but the fact that the police arrive a little late or are a little slower afoot does not always justify killing the suspect.”
— Byron White

12. “The risk of racial prejudice infecting a capital sentencing proceeding is especially serious in light of the complete finality of the death sentence.”
— Byron White

13. “The issue presented is whether the Federal Constitution confers a fundamental right upon homosexuals to engage in sodomy, and hence invalidates the laws of the many States that still make such conduct illegal, and have done so for a very long time…. Respondent would have us announce, as the Court of Appeals did, a fundamental right to engage in homosexual sodomy. This we are quite unwilling to do.”
— Byron White

14. “Where the suspect poses no immediate threat to the officer and no threat to others, the harm resulting from the failing to apprehend him does not justify the use of deadly force to do so.”
— Byron White

15. “Maintaining order in the classrooms has never been easy and it is evident that the school setting requires some easing of the restrictions to which searches by public authorities are ordinarily subject.”
— Byron White

16. “While the collateral consequences of drugs such as cocaine are indisputably severe, they are not unlike those which flow from the misuse of other, legal, substances.”
— Byron White

17. “As an exercise of raw judicial power, the Court perhaps has authority to do what it does today; but, in my view, its judgment is an improvident and extravagant exercise of the power of judicial review that the Constitution extends to this Court.”
— Byron White

18. “Respondent would have us announce a fundamental right to engage in homosexual sodomy. This we are quite unwilling to do.”
— Byron White