Justice & Law Quote by Herb Kohl

It’s a line built to corner power with civics, not sentiment. Herb Kohl frames “this power” as a loan from the public, not a possession of office, and his first move is procedural: stand up, speak plainly, be scrutinized. That’s the real argument - not about a nominee’s personality, but about legitimacy as a public performance. In an era when appointments can feel like insider chess, Kohl insists on daylight as the price of authority.

The kicker is the pivot on the old legal metaphor. “Justice may be blind” is familiar enough to sound ceremonial; then he snaps it into a warning: blindness can be a virtue, deafness is negligence. The subtext is that impartiality without listening becomes arrogance - a judiciary that can claim neutrality while ignoring the lived consequences of its rulings. Kohl isn’t rejecting judicial independence; he’s policing the boundary between independence and insulation.

Contextually, this reads like confirmation-hearing rhetoric, aimed at judges and officials who will shape rights, regulation, and the limits of government long after the news cycle. He’s also speaking to the audience beyond the room: the public watching, the senators posturing, the nominee measuring every syllable. The line pressures nominees to reveal judicial philosophy without admitting partisanship, and it flatters voters with a role in the process. It’s accountability dressed as a proverb: listen, explain, and remember who the courtroom ultimately serves.