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Quote by William J. Brennan

“We current justices read the Constitution in the only way that we can: as 20th-century Americans.”

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William J. Brennan was a former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, known for his contributions to constitutional interpretation. He retired in 1972 and is the second longest-serving Justice in U.S. history. more

“One area of law more than any other besmirches the constitutional vision of human dignity. . . . The barbaric death penalty violates our Constitution. Even the most vile murderer does not release the state from its obligation to respect dignity, for the state does not honor the victim by< emulating his murderer. Capital punishment's fatal flaw is that it treats people as objects to be toyed with and discarded. . . . One day the Court will outlaw the death penalty. Permanently.”

“It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”

Teacher Rights Students Expression Speech Gates Free Speech Shed Freedom Of Speech Constitutional Rights Freedom Of Speech And Expression

Author:Abe Fortas

“Needless, heedless, wanton and deliberate injury of the sort inflicted by Life's picture story is not an essential instrument of responsible journalism.”

Stories Essentials Responsible Instruments Journalism Injury Deliberate Wanton

Author:Abe Fortas

“For a justice of this ultimate tribunal [the U.S. Supreme Court], the opportunity for self-discovery and the occasion for self-revelation is great.”

Self Opportunity Justice Discovery Ultimate Court Supreme Self Discovery Occasions Revelations Supreme Court Tribunals Self Revelation

Author:Abe Fortas

“Each man is always in the middle of the surface of the earth and under the zenith of his own hemisphere, and over the centre of the earth.”

Men Earth Middle Intelligent Surface Centre Hemisphere Zenith

Book:The notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci

Source: The notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci

“Judging is a lonely job in which a man is, as near as may be, an island entire.”

Men May Jobs Judging Lonely Islands Being Lonely

Author:Abe Fortas

“The price of freedom of religion or of speech or of the press is that we must put up with, and even pay for, a good deal of rubbish.”

Inspirational Religion Freedom Deals Pay Atheism Speech Presses Rubbish Freedom Of Religion Price Of Freedom

Author:Robert H. Jackson

“Your job today tells me nothing of your future--your use of your leisure today tells me just what your tomorrow will be.”

Use Today Jobs Tomorrow Leisure Your Future

Author:Robert H. Jackson

“The privilege of opening the first trial in history for crimes against the peace of the world imposes a grave responsibility. The wrongs, which we seek to condemn and punish, have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated. That four great nations, flushed with victory and stung with injury, stay the hand of vengeance and voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the judgment of the law is one of the most significant tributes that power has ever paid to reason.”

“We can have intellectual individualism and the rich cultural diversities that we owe to exceptional minds only at the price of occasional eccentricity and abnormal attitudes. When they are so harmless to others or to the State as those we deal with here, the prices is not too great. But freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order.”

Mind Heart Matter Would Be Order Deals Attitude Rich Diversity Intellectual Shadow Tests Mere Substance Individualism Exceptional Occasional Abnormal Eccentricity Cultural Diversity

Author:Robert H. Jackson

Quote by William J. Brennan

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