John Marshall Quotes

17 quotes from 15 authors

Seventeen distinct voices bring Chief Justice John Marshall’s legacy to life, from his famous tax remark to the broader sweep of constitutional power. Readers who enjoy American law or federal authority will find these insights useful. For more, see the Supreme Court history and Founding Fathers pages.

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“in the words of jurist John Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court, “the power to tax involves the power to destroy.”

Gordon G. Chang

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“...if George Washington founded the nation, John Marshall defined it.”

Jean Edward Smith

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I wonder if there's just a sense that we have nothing to learn from any Supreme Court justice, including the great Chief…

Dahlia Lithwick

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My gift of John Marshall to the people of the United States was the proudest act of my life. There is no…

John Marshall

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If you could say of any one individual that the court as an institution is the length and shadow of that individual,…

William Rehnquist

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She wanted us to feel we were above everyone in the town. She really did tell us that we were related to…

Fay Wray

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“But let us not forget, too, that it was John Adams who nominated George Washington to be commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.…

David McCullough

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“Justice John Marshall Harlan, who famously admonished his fellow jurists and the nation as a whole: “Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither…

Dan Rather

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John Marshall's warning that the power to tax is the power to destroy has taken on far greater meaning... more specifically, the…

Chuck Grassley

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What this ideology, what this myth about savagery did was really excuse America for the disappearance of the Indian. It wasn't our…

Robert A. Williams, Jr

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What John Marshall says is that right of occupancy can be taken away by purchase, conquest or any other means. So the…

Robert A. Williams, Jr

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If, even as the price to be paid for a fifth vote, I ever joined an opinion for the Court that began:…

Antonin Scalia

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“The Lawyers Know Too Much THE LAWYERS, Bob, know too much. They are chums of the books of old John Marshall. They…

Carl Sandburg

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Western civilization has been at war with tribalism for 3,000 years. And that war was brought to the New World by the…

Robert A. Williams, Jr

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“No imputation on his purpose but cleared away like the cloud from a breath on spotless steel, leaving the metal bright as…

C.A. (Cyrus Augustus) Bartol

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The world values the seer above all men, and has always done so. Nay, it values all men in proportion as they…

John Jay Chapman

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“On behalf of the deference under the Administrative Procedure Act, it is said that Congress is not constitutionally barred from authorizing deference—as…

Philip Hamburger

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