If I were attorney general in Kansas in 1953, I would not have defended a Kansas statute that put in place separate-but-equal facilities.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a stance against segregation and the doctrine of 'separate but equal'. It emphasizes the importance of equality under the law.
In this quote, Eric Holder reflects on the moral and legal implications of defending laws that enforced segregation in Kansas in 1953. He identifies a commitment to justice and equality, indicating that he would have opposed any legal framework that perpetuated discrimination, thus advocating for civil rights and the need to challenge unjust laws.
In practice
In a speech advocating for civil rights, one might use this quote to illustrate the importance of challenging unjust laws.
While he was in the service, in the South and in Oklahoma, he was refused service at a couple of places where he was in uniform, and was told that African Americans, blacks, Negros, were not served. And in spite of that, I've never known a man who loved this country more than my father did.
Guantanamo is a chief recruiting tool for al-Qaida. It has put a wedge between the United States and at least some of its allies.
Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards
In a lot of ways, civil rights division is the conscience of the Justice Department. You can almost measure what kind of Justice Department you have by what kind of civil rights division that you have.
One of the things I learned is that you've got to deal with the underlying social problems if you want to have an impact on crime - that it's not a coincidence that you see the greatest amount of violent crime where you see the greatest amount of social dysfunction.
Those who peacefully gather to express sympathy for the family of Michael Brown must have their rights respected at all times. And journalists must not be harassed or prevented from covering a story that needs to be told.
So much of America's tragic and costly failure to care for all its children stems from our tendency to distinguish between our own children and other people's children--as if justice were divisible.
There can be no equal justice where the kind of trial a man gets depends on the amount of money he has.
Supporters of capital punishment bear a special responsibility to ensure the fairness of this irreversible punishment.
In countries with a properly functioning legal system, the mob continues to exist, but it is rarely called upon to mete out capital punishment. The right to take human life belongs to the state. Not so in societies where weak courts and poor law enforcement are combined with intractable structural injustices.
The reasonableness of the agency of the national courts in cases in which the state tribunals cannot be supposed to be impartial, speaks for itself. No man ought certainly to be a judge in his own cause, or in any cause in respect to which he has the least interest or bias.
Justice for crimes against humanity must have no limitations.
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