“If the right to privacy means anything, it is the right of the individual, married or single, to be free from unwarranted governmental intrusion.” IfsMeanIndividualMarriedPrivacyIntrusionRight To Privacy Author:William J. Brennan
“Our statute books gradually became laden with gross, stereotyped distinctions between the sexes and, indeed, throughout much of the 19th century the position of women in our society was, in many respects, comparable to that of blacks under the pre-Civil War slave codes.” BookWarSexCenturyPositionSlaveCodeCivil WarDistinctionOur SocietyGross19th CenturyStatutes Author:William J. Brennan
“Whether to the average person, applying contemporary community standards, the dominant theme of the material taken as a whole appeals to prurient interest.” PersonsWholeLawInterestCommunityTakenMaterialsStandardsAverageContemporaryAppealsThemeDominantAverage Person Author:William J. Brennan
“Our amended Constitution is the lodestar for our aspirations. Like every text worth reading, it is not crystalline. The phrasing is broad and the limitations of its provisions are not clearly marked. Its majestic generalities and ennobling pronouncements are both luminous and obscure. This ambiguity of course calls forth interpretation, the interaction of reader and text. The encounter with the Constitutional text has been, in many senses, my life's work.” Has BeensLawCoursesReadingReaderConstitutionSensesLimitationAspirationEncountersInterpretationBroadsInteractionObscureProvisionAmbiguityLuminousMajesticGeneralitiesWorth Reading Author:William J. Brennan
“The concept of military necessity is seductively broad, and has a dangerous plasticity. Because they invariably have the visage of overriding importance, there is always a temptation to invoke security "necessities" to justify an encroachment upon civil liberties. For that reason, the military-security argument must be approached with a healthy skepticism.” ReasonLibertySecurityMilitaryDangerousHealthyConceptsArgumentImportanceCivil RightsTemptationJustifyBroadsSkepticismCivil LibertiesInvokeEncroachmentPlasticity Author:William J. Brennan
“The principle inherent in the clause that prohibits pointless infliction of excessive punishment when less severe punishment can adequately achieve the same purposes invalidates the punishment.” PurposePrinciplesAchievePunishmentInherentSeverePointlessClausesInfliction Author:William J. Brennan
“The quest for freedom, dignity, and the rights of man will never end.” MenEndsRightsDignityQuests Author:William J. Brennan
“No doubt, there are those who believe that judges - and particularly dissenting judges - write to hear themselves say, as it were, 'I, I, I.' And no doubt, there are also those who believe that judges are, like Joan Didion, primarily engaged in the writing of fiction. I cannot agree with either of those propositions.” WritingBelieveFictionLibertyDoubtJudgingAgreeEngagedNo DoubtPropositionsDissent Author:William J. Brennan
