Quotes

Before assessing the merits of this case, we note that it is undeniable that the word “nigger used conventionally – namely as an insult – continues to be an oft-heard feature of the soundtrack of American racism at its most base and violent. Any serious discussion of the N-word and proper ways to respond to its various uses must include an appreciation of the persistent weaponization of nigger by racists.” Randall Kennedy, NIGGER: THE STRANGE CAREER OF A TROUBLESOME WORD X (Pantheon Books rev. ed. 2022). The use of such a racial slur “flows from the fountain of purpose to injure.” Middleton v. State, 64 N.E.3d 895, 902. Whitaker-Blakey v. State (2024), Ind. App., 248 N.E. 3d 617 at 622

“Power, not reason, is the new currency of this Court’s decision making.”

– from Justice Thurgood Marshall’s dissenting opinion in Payne v. Tennessee (1991), 501 U.S. 808 at 844 quoted in dissenting opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022), 142 S. Ct. 228.

“It cannot be gainsaid that society holds a strong interest in the prosecution of crimes. It is also true that no such interest, however important, ever can eclipse society’s interest in ensuring that the constitutional rights of the people are vindicated. Society’s interest in prosecution does not displace the remedy due to constitutionally aggrieved persons.” Pennsylvania v. Cosby (2021), Pa. Super., ___ A. 3d____.

Every judge must learn to live with the fact he or she will make some mistakes; it comes with the territory. But it is something else entirely to perpetuate something we all know to be wrong only because we fear the consequences of being right.

United States Supreme Court

Justice Neal Gorsuch

Ramos v. Louisiana (2020), 590

U.S. ____.