Harper Lee on the Integrity of Courts

I’m no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and in the jury system—that is no ideal to me, it is a living, working reality. Gentlemen, a court is no better than each man of you sitting before me on this jury. A court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make it up.

–Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), pt. 2, ch. 23 (Atticus Finch addresses the jury)