I think judicial temperament is a willingness to step back from your own committed views of the correct jurisprudential approach and evaluate those views in terms of your role as a judge. It's the difference between being a judge and being a law professor.
Interpretation
Judicial temperament involves being able to reflect on one’s own beliefs about law while considering the impartial role of a judge.
In this quote, John Roberts emphasizes the importance of judicial temperament, which he describes as the ability of a judge to detach personal convictions from their role in the courtroom. He contrasts the mindset of a judge, who must evaluate cases objectively, with that of a law professor, who may advocate for specific legal theories or approaches. This perspective highlights the necessity of impartiality and self-examination in the pursuit of justice.
In practice
In a lecture about the role of judges in the legal system.
I will be vigilant to protect the independence and integrity of the Supreme Court, and I will work to ensure that it upholds the rule of law and safeguards those liberties that make this land one of endless possibilities for all Americans.
If children do not understand the Constitution, they cannot understand how our government functions, or what their rights and responsibilities are as citizens of the United States.
By ensuring that no one in government has too much power, the Constitution helps protect ordinary Americans every day against abuse of power by those in authority.
A blessed spirit is a mould ever more and more patient of the bright metal poured into it, a body ever more completely uncovered to the meridian blaze of the spiritual sun.
I'm not trying to be efficient; I'm trying to be present.
Unless you make tremendous efforts, you will not be convinced that effort will take you nowhere. The self is so self-confident that unless it is totally discouraged it will not give up. Mere verbal conviction is not enough. Hard facts alone can show the absolute nothingness of the self-image.
Honest error is to be pitied not ridiculed.
Successful givers secure their oxygen masks before coming to the assistance of others. Although their motives may be less purely altruistic, their actions prove more altruistic, because they give more.
Patience is power. Patience is not an absence of action; rather it is "timing" it waits on the right time to act, for the right principles and in the right way.
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