Star Trek (TV Series)

Court Martial (1967)

Elisha Cook Jr.: Cogley

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Quotes 

• Cogley : Books, young man, books. Thousands of them. If time wasn't so important, I'd show you something. My library. Thousands of books.

  Captain James T. Kirk : And what would be the point?

  Cogley : This is where the law is, not in that homogenized, pasteurized, synthesized... . Do you want to know the law, the ancient concepts in their own language, learn the intent of the men who wrote them, from Moses to the tribunal of Alpha 3? Books.

  Captain James T. Kirk : You have to be either an obsessive crackpot who's escaped from his keeper, or Samuel T. Cogley, attorney at law.

  Cogley : You're right on both counts. Need a lawyer?

  Captain James T. Kirk : I'm afraid so.

• Cogley : Rights, sir, human rights! The Bible. The Code of Hammurabi, and of Justinian. The Magna Carta. The Constitution of the United States. The Fundamental Declarations of the Martian Colonies. The Statutes of Alpha III. Gentlemen - these documents all speak of rights. Rights of the accused to a trial by his peers, to be represented by counsel. The rights of cross-examination. But most importantly, the right to be confronted by the witnesses against him - a right to which my client's been denied.

  Areel Shaw : Your Honor, that is ridiculous. We've produced the witnesses in court. My learned opponent had the opportunity to see them, cross-examine them...

  Cogley : All but one. The most devastating witness against my client is not a human being, it's a machine. An information system. The computer log of the Enterprise. And I ask this court adjourn and reconvene aboard that vessel.

  Areel Shaw : I protest, Your Honor.

  Cogley : And I repeat! I speak of rights! A machine has none. A man must! My client has the right to face his accuser. And if you do not grant him that right, you have brought us down to the level of the machine. Indeed, you have elevated that machine above us. I ask that my motion be granted. And more than that, gentlemen, in the name of a humanity fading in the shadow of the machine, I demand it. I demand it!

• Cogley : Gentlemen. I submit to you that Lt. Commander Ben Finney is not dead!

• Captain James T. Kirk : [finding his assigned quarters congested]  What is all this?

  Cogley : I figure we'll be spendin' some time together, so I moved in.

  Captain James T. Kirk : [sarcastically, as he looks about at the piles of books around the room]  I hope I'm not crowding you.

  Cogley : What's the matter? Don't you like books?

  Captain James T. Kirk : Oh, I like them fine. But a computer takes less space.

• [Prosecutor Shaw interrupts the court computer from reading off the full list of Captain Kirk's commendations, awards, citations and honors] 

  Areel Shaw : The prosecution concedes the inestimable record of Captain Kirk.

  Portmaster Stone : Mr. Cogley?

  Cogley : I wouldn't want to slow the wheels of progress. But then, on the other hand, I wouldn't want those wheels to run over my client in their unbridled haste.

  Portmaster Stone : Continue.

  [the computer continues reading off the accumulated merits of Captain Kirk] 

  Cogley : [after only a few more of those]  Stop! Now, I think that's enough. I wouldn't want to slow things up *too* much.

• Cogley : You did the right thing, but... would you do it again?

  Captain James T. Kirk : Given the same circumstances, I would do the same thing without hesitation. Because the steps I took, in the order I took them, were absolutely necessary, if I were to save my ship. And *nothing* is more important than my ship.

• Areel Shaw : Your witness, Mr. Cogley.

  Cogley : No questions.