- Alan Shore: [to Judge Stuckey] Your Honor, all I'm asking is that the girl be questioned in chambers instead of a big, intimidating theatre. Come on.
- Judge Wilbur Stucky: The courtroom is where we conduct all our legal business, openly and notoriously in keeping with the Constitution and the intent of our founding fathers. I do all my business openly and notoriously, Counsel. All of it.
- Alan Shore: How 'bout sex, Your Honor?
- Eugene Young: Mr. Gilbert, people sometimes get consumed by hatred. Don't let this man make you more of a victim than you already are.
- Asst. U.S. Atty. Theodore McNally: [to Anna] Now let's talk about your mom and dad. Do you love them?
- Anna Vjorka: I do, but that doesn't mean that I have to follow all their ancient rules, especially the ones that are barbaric.
- Asst. U.S. Atty. Theodore McNally: Barbaric? Did your lawyer tell you to use that word?
- Alan Shore: Objection. I told her to use "reprehensible," "repugnant" and "criminal." She came up with "barbaric" all on her own.
- A.D.A. Susan Alexander: What the hell is going on?
- Eugene Young: Am I free to say what you've told me?
- Lawrence Gilbert: No.
- A.D.A. Susan Alexander: Let me tell you something. If you plead the Fifth, you gift wrap reasonable doubt with a big, red bow. Do you understand me? The fact of the matter is, Mr. Gilbert, you have no alibi for the night of the murder. Nobody can verify that they saw you working late. The reason we dismissed you as a suspect is we had no motive. Now, we do.
- Eugene Young: Hold on a second!
- A.D.A. Susan Alexander: I'm not trying to threaten you. I'm just making you aware. This is what the defense attorney will play like a trombone. Our only chance now is to explore this affair, rule you out as a suspect.
- Lawrence Gilbert: I'm not talking about the affair.
- A.D.A. Susan Alexander: Well, then, we're done, Mr. Gilbert. I'll certainly keep prosecuting, but we're done.
- Alan Shore: [to Mrs. Vjorka] You see nothing wrong with forcing Anna to be married? Or to be raped?
- Mrs. Vjorka: If she doesn't consent to consummating the marriage, Mr. Shore, then sex shouldn't happen.
- Alan Shore: But Mrs. Viorka, come on. If her 15-year-old husband overpowers her, in the name of religious consummation, he's not going to be prosecuted, is he?
- Mrs. Vjorka: First of all, how dare you presume Roma boys to be rapists?
- Alan Shore: Because consummating the marriage is part of Roma tradition.
- Mrs. Vjorka: Consummation is traditional in America as well, but if the bride says, "no," we don't assume rape.
- Alan Shore: We assume capacity to give consent. We can't do that with a 12-year-old.
- Mrs. Vjorka: You don't know our culture.
- Alan Shore: I know this is an archaic practice that has no place in this child's life today. I know persecution, Mrs. Viorka. I know crime. I...
- Mrs. Vjorka: In this country, you take newborn babies and snip off the ends of their penises. I imagine some other cultures would object to that. The United States believes in executing human beings while every other westernized country finds that barbaric.
- Alan Shore: Yes. I'm sure we could exchange cultural barbs ad nauseam. It wouldn't change the fact you're this girl's mother, and...
- Mrs. Vjorka: And I love her deeply. And perhaps you would entertain the radical idea that a mother might know what's best for her daughter.
- Alan Shore: And perhaps you could allow for the not-so-radical reality this girl is a child.
- Mrs. Vjorka: Whose parents deserve the right to raise her according to their culture, even should it have the audacity to vary from the United States of America.
- Asst. U.S. Atty. Theodore McNally: [during his closing argument] We are here, representing Mr. and Mrs. Viorka, and representing the United States, a country being condemned, worldwide at the moment, for imposing its views beyond its own borders. Do I favor arraigned marriages? Absolutely not. When children are involved, I find it abhorrent, as I'm sure you do, Your Honor. But, it is simply not our right to dictate our notion of morality to foreign countries. Anna Viorka is a wonderful little girl, but, by her own testimony, she's not really afraid of getting married. She just doesn't want to do it. That simply fails to rise to the legal threshold of persecution that warrants asylum. This girl has a loving family, eager to safeguard her future according to their culture and their tradition. As much as we might reject that tradition, it is not our right to substitute our own.
- Alan Shore: [during his closing argument] Your Honor, these are not particularly proud times for Americans. Around the world, we're increasingly perceived as imperialists. Where they get that, I haven't a clue. But I think we can all agree, the last thing we need to do right now, is to continue to police more foreign cultures. The truth is, I agree with almost everything Mr. Bennett just said. But this is a child, facing an enforced marriage she does not want. Facing enforced sex she does not want. This isn't tantamount to rape, it is rape. Rape. It may surprise you, but I happen to be a very proud American. And where I remain most proud of our nation is in the belief that its people remain strongly committed to human rights. At our noblest, the United States serves to protect the weak, the oppressed. A 12-year-old child is asking you today to spare her from an unimaginable atrocity. I fully understand, we can't be policemen for the world, but how about for one, innocent, vulnerable child?
- Lawrence Gilbert: You stood beside me, Mr. Young. You, of all people, know I didn't kill Mr. Spooner.
- Eugene Young: I don't know you didn't order the hit, but I'll tell you this: standing beside you, I had the opportunity to see your face when your wife's killer went down. You didn't look surprised, Mr. Gilbert. One could almost conclude you expected him to get shot.
- Lawrence Gilbert: Is that what you think?
- Eugene Young: Here's what I know: you were desperate for the death penalty. You said to me, "He deserves a bullet right between the eyes." Those were you exact words, Mr. Gilbert. Quite a coincidence, don't you think? I mean, considering where he got shot? You never had any affair. You sent that anonymous note to the defense counsel. You set yourself up with the question, then you pled the Fifth, knowing full well your wife's killer would be set free. Then you had him executed because that's what he deserved.
- Lawrence Gilbert: Mr. Young, I'm sure Mr. Spooner had many enemies who wanted him dead. After all, we know he killed before, right? He was only freed on a technicality because you were able to suppress most of the evidence.
- Eugene Young: That's why you chose me. You knew all the time I'd gotten him off.
- Lawrence Gilbert: I wish you well, Mr. Young.
- Anna Vjorka: [to Shore] My name is Anna Viorka and I need a lawyer.
- Alan Shore: I see. Do you have any money?
- Anna Vjorka: Um... some... twelve dollars.
- Alan Shore: [laughs softly] I see. You know twelve dollars barely covers the time it would take me to say, "I can't help you." And since I've already said it, give me the twelve bucks.
- Mr. Vjorka: Mr. Shore, my daughter is afraid she'll miss her friends here. That's what this is about. I'm sure there are many kids coming out of Disneyland and seeking asylum, too...
- Alan Shore: You are forcing your 12-year-old daughter to be married, sir. Please don't equate that with...
- Mr. Vjorka: There are Mormon families who do that in this country...
- Alan Shore: The Mormon church does not sanction marriage...
- Mr. Vjorka: But it happens. It goes on and the police don't always enforce the law against it, do they, Mr. Shore?
- Alan Shore: How 'bout we strike a deal, then? You leave your daughter here, we'll raise her in Utah.
- Asst. U.S. Atty. Theodore McNally: Objection!