Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quoteShare via Email Print this Page Daily Quotes Archives2009-06-05 Jun 5, 2009Stripped of all its covering, the naked question is, whether ours is a federal or consolidated government; a constitutional or absolute one; a government resting solidly on the basis of the sovereignty of the States, or on the unrestrained will of a majority; a form of government, as in all other unlimited ones, in which injustice, violence, and force must ultimately prevail.~ John C. CalhounThe constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all.~ Rhode Island Declaration of Rights Article I, Section IA democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.~ Thomas Jefferson Jun 4, 2009Foolish liberals who are trying to read the Second Amendment out of the constitution by claiming it's not an individual right or that it's too much of a safety hazard don’t see the danger of the big picture. They're courting disaster by encouraging others to use this same means to eliminate portions of the Constitution they don't like.~ Alan DershowitzI cannot assent to the view, if it be meant that the legislature may impair or abridge the rights of a free press and of free speech whenever it thinks that the public welfare requires that it be done. The public welfare cannot override constitutional privilege.~ John Marshall HarlanHere the great art lies, to discern in what the law is to bid restraint and punishment, and in what things persuasion only is to work.~ John Milton Jun 3, 2009The right to comment freely and criticize the action, opinions, and judgment of courts is of primary importance to the public generally. Not only is it good for the public; but it has a salutary effect on courts and judges as well.~ James P. HughesThe Constitution is what the judges say it is.~ Justice Charles Evans HughesThe Framers of the Bill of Rights did not purport to “create” rights. Rather they designed the Bill of Rights to prohibit our Government from infringing rights and liberties presumed to be preexisting.~ Justice William J. Brennan Jun 2, 2009The Supreme Court is steadily eroding the protections against police excess promised by the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution.~ Dan BaumAny time we deny any citizen the full exercise of his constitutional rights, we are weakening our own claim to them.~ Dwight D. EisenhowerWhatever disagreement there may be as to the scope of the phrase “due process of law” there can be no doubt that it embraces the fundamental conception of a fair trial, with opportunity to be heard.~ Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Jun 1, 2009A court which yields to the popular will thereby licenses itself to practice despotism, for there can be no assurance that it will not on another occasion indulge its own will.~ Felix FrankfurterIt is easy to make light of insistence on scrupulous regard for the safeguards of civil liberties when invoked on behalf of the unworthy. History bears testimony that by such disregard are the rights of liberty extinguished, heedlessly at first, then stealthily, and brazenly in the end.~ Felix FrankfurterThe requirement of “due process” is not a fairweather or timid assurance. It must be respected in periods of calm and in times of trouble; it protects aliens as well as citizens.~ Felix Frankfurter Previous week's quotes Next week's quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print