Jed S. Rakoff Quotes

16 quotes in 326 categories

• If you prosecute a CEO or other senior executive and send him or her to jail for committing a crime, the deterrent effect in my…
• Everything needs to be public. The legitimacy of the courts comes from the fact that they reason openly, on the record, based on facts.
• I have a past of making a fool of myself.
• One of the many things I like about baseball is how it combines individual talent and teamsmanship.
• In baseball you have individual responsibility, and if you fail it, you get an error. But at the same time, your focus is on the…
• I admired Truman, among many other things, because he integrated the Army. I admired JFK because the very first civil rights legislation was passed at…
• Judges are the people who have to protect the rights of individuals, have to protect the rights of minorities, have to protect the rights in…
• In my experience, most federal prosecutors, at every level, are seeking to make a name for themselves, and the best way to do that is…
• Companies do not commit crimes; only their agents do. And while a company might get the benefit of some such crimes, prosecuting the company would…
• Why should the court impose a judgment in a case in which the SEC alleges a serious securities fraud, but the defendant neither admits nor…
• The price of being a nice guy is too high - much too high - in terms of the system of justice.
• An application of judicial power that does not rest on facts is worse than mindless, it is inherently dangerous. If its deployment does not rest…
• If, in the name of combating terrorism, we so restrict our own freedom, have we not thereby lost part of the very battle we seek…
• When I was a kid, and for many years after, I was your classic afraid-to-dance-type person.
• I have huge respect for Preet Bharara, a great U.S. Attorney by any measure. But even great men can make mistakes.
• Once I really got into securities fraud prosecutions, I came to realize how central they were to the maintenance of a free market and how,…

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