Ted Olson Quotes

The very idea of marriage is basic to recognition as equals in our society any status short of that is inferior, unjust, and unconstitutional.

The more gays and lesbians come out – the more people realize that they have a friend who’s gay, which they may not have known before, and they realize this person has the same aspirations and desires and need to be committed and to be part of a community – then they become more accepting.

When politicians seek to restrict political speech, it is invariably to protect their own incumbency and avoid having to defend their policies in the marketplace of ideas.

Ultimately, the reason we have a Constitution, the reason we have separation of powers, the reason we have the Fourteenth Amendment is to provide the courts with the opportunity to override the will of the people when the will of the people discriminates against a segment of our society.

There are libertarian conservatives, fiscal conservatives, and social conservatives. I feel conservative in terms of limited government, individual responsibility, self-sufficiency – that sort of thing.

I’ve been strongly opposed to racial discrimination and anything like that my whole life. Maybe it’s thanks to my parents and where I grew up and that sort of thing, but particularly with gay and lesbian citizens, I’ve seen that people can be cruel, and it’s very distressing.

I immediately called the command center of the Department of Justice to let them know that my wife was on a plane that had been hijacked. I mainly wanted them know there was another hijacked plane out there.

Another argument, vaguer and even less persuasive, is that gay marriage somehow does harm to heterosexual marriage. I have yet to meet anyone who can explain to me what this means. In what way would allowing same-sex partners to marry diminish the marriages of heterosexual couples?

She said it had been hijacked shortly after takeoff. By this time, the plane had been in the air – again, I’m presuming that it took off on time – for over an hour.

The calls that I have received from President Bush and Vice President Cheney, the fact that there are other people that are suffering every bit as much as I am, and that our whole nation is going through a tragedy together, I think we have to think about those things.

Every time you make a guess of what a judge is going to do… you’re wrong, so I try to stay away from that.

I grew up in California, and when I read that Proposition 8 was on the ballot, I was disappointed because it seemed to be inconsistent with the spirit of the state, with the independence and diversity of the frontier that California has always been.

Would you like Fox’s right to free press put up to a vote and say well, if five states have approved it, let’s wait till the other 45 states do?

I’d always felt from as far back as I can remember that where the issue of marriage is concerned, individuals should have the opportunity to marry and not be discriminated against.

You have to take strength from the people that love you and the people that love Barbara and the huge number of expressions of sympathy and compassion and support. That has been extremely moving.

The reality is that our independent judiciary is the most respected branch of our government and the envy of the world.

It’s easy to imagine an infinite number of situations where the government might legitimately give out false information.

My wife had taken off on a plane. Two airplanes had crashed into the World Trade Center. I, of course, like any other person, felt potentially devastated, panicky a little bit.

Voters, whatever their political views, should rise up against politicians who want to dilute the Bill of Rights to perpetuate their tenure in office.

The plane took off at 8:10 in the morning – or that’s when it was scheduled to take off. And that’s when I believe it took off. I had been in my office at the Department of Justice. Someone told me that there had been the two strikes that occurred at the World Trade Center.