Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quoteShare via Email Print this Page Daily Quotes Archives2009-07-23 Jul 23, 2009The constitutional right of free expression... is designed and intended to remove governmental restraints from the arena of public discussion, putting the decision as to what views shall be voiced in the hands of each of us, in the hope that the use of such freedom will ultimately produce a more capable citizenry and more perfect polity and in the belief that no other approach would comport with the premise of individual dignity and choice upon which our political systems rests.~ John Marshall Harlan IIIt is the essence of the institutions of liberty that it be recognized that guilt is personal and cannot be attributed to the holding of opinions or to mere intent in the absence of overt acts.~ Justice Charles Evans HughesA theory deeply etched in our law [is that] a free society prefers to punish the few who abuse the rights of free speech after they break the law rather than to throttle them and all others beforehand.~ Justice Clarence Thomas Jul 22, 2009Life and liberty can be as much endangered from illegal methods used to convict those thought to be criminals as from the actual criminals themselves.~ Earl WarrenThe history of liberty has largely been the history of the observance of procedural safeguards.~ Felix FrankfurterAlthough this nation unquestionably must take strong action under the leadership of the commander in chief to protect itself against enormous and unprecedented threats, that necessity cannot negate the existence of the most basic fundamental rights for which the people of this country have fought and died for well over two hundred years... In sum, there can be no question that the Fifth Amendment right asserted by the Guantanamo detainees in this litigation -- the right not to be deprived of liberty without due process of law -- is one of the most fundamental rights recognized by the U.S. Constitution.~ Judge Joyce Hens Green Jul 21, 2009A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.~ Robert FrostA criminal trial is not a search for truth. It is much too circumscribed for that. Rather, a trial is a formalized contest for the hearts and minds of a panel of twelve. It is a quest for a verdict in which information is selected and screened (we can almost say “processed”) before it is allowed to reach jurors.~ Phillip FinchI consider trial by jury as the only anchor yet devised by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.~ Thomas Jefferson Jul 20, 2009The only shape in which equality is really connected with justice is this – justice presupposes general rules. If these general rules are to be maintained at all, it is obvious that they must be applied equally to every case which satisfies their terms.~ James Fitzjames StephensThe First Amendment is often inconvenient. But that is besides the point. Inconvenience does not absolve the government of its obligation to tolerate speech.~ Justice Anthony KennedyThe very aim and end of our institutions is just this: that we may think what we like and say what we think.~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Jul 17, 2009In those wretched countries where a man cannot call his tongue his own, he can scarce call anything his own. Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.~ Benjamin FranklinFraud may consist as well in the suppression of what is true as in the representation of what is false. If a man professing to answer a question, select those facts only which are likely to give a credit to the person of whom he speaks, and keep back the rest, he is a more artful knave than he who tells a direct falsehood.~ Justice Heath Previous week's quotes Next week's quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print