From Louis Brandeis (1856–1941) American litigator, Supreme Court Justice, advocate of privacy, developer of the Brandeis Brief, Dissent, Burdeau v. McDowell, 256 U.S. 465, 477 (1921):
At the foundation of our civil liberty lies the principle which denies to government officials an exceptional position before the law and which subjects them to the same rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen.
Today’s politicians regard this sentiment as quaint.
