Quotessence
Home / Authors / Hugo Black
Hugo Black

Hugo Black Quotes

Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Filter quotes by topic

AllGovernmentAmendmentsPeopleFirstsConstitutionFirst AmendmentLawLibertyStatesBeliefCountryPressesChurchJusticePoliticalReligiousBill Of RightsBillsFreedom Of SpeechMean

Famous Hugo Black Quotes

“Compelling a man by law to pay his money to elect candidates or advocate law or doctrines he is against differs only in degree, if at all, from compelling him by law to speak for a candidate, a party, or a cause he is against. The very reason for the First Amendment is to make the people of this country free to think, speak, write and worship as they wish, not as the Government commands.”

PeopleIfsThinkingMenWritingFirstsCountryReasonGovernmentLawSpeakWishCausesPartyPayLibertyDegreesWorshipDoctrineCommandCandidatesAmendmentsCompellingFirst Amendment
Author:Hugo Black
Create image

“The First Amendment's language leaves no room for inference that abridgments of speech and press can be made just because they are slight. That Amendment provides, in simple words, that "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." I read "no law . . . abridging" to mean no law abridging.”

FirstsMeanMadeLawLanguageSimpleRoomsSpeechPressesCongressAmendmentsFreedom Of SpeechFirst AmendmentInferenceSimple Words
Author:Hugo Black
Create image

“The word 'security' is a broad, vague generality whose contours should not be invoked to abrogate the fundamental law embodied in the First Amendment. The guarding of military and diplomatic secrets at the expense of informed representative government provides no real security.”

ShouldFirstsRealGovernmentLawSecretSecurityMilitaryFundamentalsExpensesBroadsAmendmentsRepresentativesVagueFirst AmendmentDiplomaticGeneralitiesGuardingRepresentative Government
Author:Hugo Black
Create image

“The "establishment of religion" clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another. Neither can force nor influence a person to go to or to remain away from church against his will or force him to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion.”

FirstsMeanPersonsStatesGovernmentLawBeliefForceChurchAtheismInfluencePositive AtheismAidsEstablishmentAmendmentsFederal GovernmentFirst AmendmentDisbeliefSeparation Of Church And StateClauses
Author:Hugo Black
Create image

“The first ten amendments were proposed and adopted largely because of fear that Government might unduly interfere with prized individual liberties. The people wanted and demanded a Bill of Rights written into their Constitution. The amendments embodying the Bill of Rights were intended to curb all branches of the Federal Government in the fields touched by the amendments-Legislative, Executive, and Judicial.”

PeopleFirstsGovernmentMightWantedIndividualLibertyRightsWrittenFieldsTenConstitutionBillsBranchesTouchedExecutivesAmendmentsInterfereFederal GovernmentAdoptedJudicialBill Of RightsCurbIndividual Liberty
Author:Hugo Black
Create image

“I do not believe that it can be too often repeated that the freedoms of speech, press, petition and assembly guaranteed by the First Amendment must be accorded to the ideas we hate or sooner or later they will be denied to the ideas we cherish. The first banning of an association because it advocates hated ideas - whether that association be called a political party or not - marks a fateful moment in the history of a free country.”

FirstsBelieveIdeasCountryMomentsPoliticalHatePartySpeechMarkPressesHatedCherishAssociationDeniedAmendmentsFreedom Of SpeechSooner Or LaterPolitical PartiesFirst AmendmentAssemblyPetitionsFree Country
Author:Hugo Black
Create image

“The public welfare demands that constitutional cases must be decided according to the terms of the Constitution itself, and not according to judges views of fairness, reasonableness, or justice. I have no fear of constitutional amendments properly adopted, but I do fear the rewriting of the Constitution by judges under the guise of interpretation.”

TermJusticeViewsCasesJudgingDemandDecidedConstitutionWelfareInterpretationAmendmentsFairnessAdoptedNo FearGuiseHave No FearRewritingConstitutional AmendmentsReasonablenessPublic Welfare
Author:Hugo Black
Create image