Law & Order (TV Series)

Illegal (2008)

Sam Waterston: Interim DA Jack McCoy

Quotes 

• D.A. Jack McCoy : Now I know why Adam Schiff was so grumpy.

• D.A. Jack McCoy : What an idiot! Where did I get the idea I could do this job without the politics and stay above the fray?

• A.D.A. Josh Lethem : So... there it is. some of us were wondering how long it'd take the real Jack McCoy to rear his shaggy, hippy liberal head. You know, when Arthur left the Attorney General told me he wanted me sitting in that chair.

  D.A. Jack McCoy : And the mayor wanted somebody else... But I was the guy next in line for the job. This way, everybody's hands are clean... And I dont have to grind anybody's axe.

  A.D.A. Josh Lethem : Except your own.

  D.A. Jack McCoy : Josh, I think you've said enough.

  A.D.A. Josh Lethem : It's too much power for you, Jack. You can't be trusted.

  D.A. Jack McCoy : If you really believe that you shouldn't be working for me. You can resign or I can fire you. Either way, clean out your desk tonight. You're done here.

• Attorney Sanders : Mr. McCoy, do you like cops?

  D.A. Jack McCoy : Some cops I like a lot. I respect police officers, I appreciate the the difficulty of their job. I respect the standard they hold themselves to.

  Attorney Sanders : But you've prosecuted cops.

  D.A. Jack McCoy : I've prosecuted individual cops.

  Attorney Sanders : On more than one occasion. In fact, you've worked on more prosecutions of police officers than anyone in your office, isn't that right?

  D.A. Jack McCoy : Maybe because I've been there the longest.

  Attorney Sanders : You've prosecuted cops, big tobacco, big pharma, pro-life groups, anti-gay activists, gun manufacturers. The whole liberal hit list, isn't that right?

  D.A. Jack McCoy : I took the cases that landed on my desk.

  Attorney Sanders : In fact, you went out of your way to fabricate cases to service your liberal agenda.

  D.A. Jack McCoy : That's not true.

  Attorney Sanders : That's not true? Didn't you bend the law so egregiously in your illegitimate pursuit of a gun manufacturer that the judge had to set aside the jury's guilty verdict in the interest of justice? Didn't the judge have to, as Mr. Lethem testified, rein you in?

  D.A. Jack McCoy : That's one side of the ledger. I was also reined in while prosecuting a sexual predator. I was reined in for prosecuting a bunch of Russian gangsters who killed the prosecutor and almost blew up a police station.

  Attorney Sanders : Maybe sometimes, by accident, you are on the side of the angels, but Mr. Lethem is right. You can't be trusted. You're out of control. Isn't that the bottom line on you, Mr. McCoy?

  D.A. Jack McCoy : The bottom line, Ms. Sanders, where there's a law, I'll enforce it. Where there's a crime, I'll prosecute it. And where there's a victim, I'll speak for that victim. That's my bottom line.