"[the framers of the Constitution] intended our government should be a republic, which differs more widely from a democracy than a democracy from a despotism."

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Probably the worst thing that has happened in America in my time is the decay of confidence in the courts. No one can be sure any more that in a given case they will uphold the plainest mandate of the Constitution. On the contrary, everyone begins to be more or less convinced in advance that they won't. Judges are chosen not because they know the Constitution and are in favor of it, but precisely because they appear to be against it.

— H. L. Mencken