Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quote Share via Email Print this Page [621-640] of 715 Justice quotesJustice QuotesJustice Previous 20 quotes Next 20 quotes As a matter of constitutional tradition, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, we presume that governmental regulation of the content of speech is more likely to interfere with the free exchange of ideas than to encourage it. The interest in encouraging freedom of expression in a democratic society outweighs any theoretical but unproven benefit of censorship.~ Justice John Paul Stevens Just as the right to speak and the right to refrain from speaking are complementary components of a broader concept of individual freedom, so also the individual’s freedom to choose his own creed is the counterpart of his right to refrain from accepting the creed established by the majority.~ Justice John Paul Stevens The government must pursue a course of complete neutrality toward religion.~ Justice John Paul Stevens The 4th Amendment and the personal rights it secures have a long history. At the very core stands the right of a man to retreat into his own home and there be free from unreasonable governmental intrusion.~ Justice Potter Stewart Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself. It is the landmark of an authoritarian regime...~ Justice Potter Stewart [A] function of free speech under our system of government is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve it’s high purpose when it indices a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with things as they are, or even stirs people to anger. Speech is often provocative and challenging. It may strike at prejudices and preconceptions and have profound unsettling effects as it presses for understanding.~ Justice Potter Stewart The right to enjoy property without unlawful deprivation, no less that the right to speak out or the right to travel is, in truth, a “personal” right.~ Justice Potter Stewart If a juror feels that the statute involved in any criminal offence is unfair, or that it infringes upon the defendant's natural god-given unalienable or constitutional rights, then it is his duty to affirm that the offending statute is really no law at all and that the violation of it is no crime at all, for no one is bound to obey an unjust law.~ Harlan F. Stone The law itself is on trial quite as much as the cause which is to be decided.~ Harlan F. Stone The law itself is on trial quite as much as the cause which is to be decided.~ Harlan F. Stone This provision (the 4th Amendment) speaks for itself. Its plain object is to secure the perfect enjoyment of that great right of the common law, that a man's house shall be his own castle, privileged against all civil and military intrusion.~ Justice Joseph Story Justice is open to everyone in the same way as the Ritz Hotel.~ Judge Sturgess Constitutional rights may not be infringed simply because the majority of the people choose that they be.~ Supreme Court of the United States Do the people of this land…desire to preserve those [liberties] protected by the First Amendment… If so, let them withstand all beginnings of encroachment. For the saddest epitaph which can be carved in memory of a vanquished liberty is that it was lost because its possessors failed to stretch for a saving hand while yet there was time.~ George Sutherland A free press stands as one of the great interpreters between the government and the people. To allow it to be fettered is to fetter ourselves.~ George Sutherland Laws are like cobwebs which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through.~ Jonathan Swift It is a maxim among lawyers that whatever hath been done before may be done again, and therefore they take special care to record all the decisions formerly made against common justice and the general reason of mankind. These, under the name of precedents, they produce as authorities to justify the most iniquitous opinions, and the judges never fail of directing them accordingly.~ Jonathan Swift Next to the right of liberty, the right of property is the most important individual right guaranteed by the Constitution and the one which, united with that of personal liberty, has contributed more to the growth of civilization than any other institution established by the human race.~ William Howard Taft Freedom does not always win. This is one of the bitterest lessons of history.~ A. J. P. Taylor ...and in all cases of libels, the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts, under the direction of the court, as in other cases.~ Texas Constitution Previous 20 quotes Next 20 quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print