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Function Quotes

“But it is recognized that punishment for the abuse of the liberty accorded to the press is essential to the protection of the public, and that the common law rules that subject the libeler to responsibility for the public offense, as well as for the private injury, are not abolished by the protection extended in our constitutions. The law of criminal libel rests upon that secure foundation. There is also the conceded authority of courts to punish for contempt when publications directly tend to prevent the proper discharge of judicial functions.”

“We cannot sanction the view that the Constitution, while solicitous of the cognitive content of individual speech, has little or no regard for that emotive function which, practically speaking, may often be the more important element of the overall message sought to be communicated.”

May Littles Important Individual Justice Views Speech Elements Messages Function Constitution Regard Sanctions Cognitive Often Is

Author:John Marshall Harlan II

“The primary function of a constitution was to mark out the boundaries of governmental powers-hence in England, where there was no constitution , there were no limits (save for the effect of trail by jury) to what the legislature might do.”

Might Effects Limits Function Constitution Mark England Boundaries Primaries Trails Jury Legislature

Book:The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution

Source: The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution

“The constitution is an instrument, above all, for LIMITING the functions of government.”

Government Function Constitution Instruments

Book:The Conscience of a Conservative

Source: The Conscience of a Conservative

“[T]he bill exceeds the rightful authority to which governments are limited by the essential distinction between civil and religious functions, and violates in particular the article of the Constitution of the United States which declares that Congress shall make no law respecting a religious establishment.... This particular church, therefore, would so far be a religious establishment by law, a legal force and sanction being given to certain articles in its constitution and administration.”

“The function of the prosecutor under the federal Constitution is not to tack as many skins of victims as possible against the wall. His function is to vindicate the rights of the people as expressed in the laws and give those accused of crime a fair trial.”

People Giving Law Justice Rights Crime Wall Fairs Skins Function Constitution Victim Trials Accused Criminal Justice Prosecutor Fair Trial

Author:William O. Douglas

“We have no Constitution which functions in the absence of a moral people”

People Moral Function Constitution Absence

Author:John Adams

“The primary function of the government is - and here I am quoting directly from the U.S. Constitution - 'to spew out paper.'”

Government Paper Function Constitution Primaries Here I Am Quoting

Book:Dave Barry in Cyberspace

Source: Dave Barry in Cyberspace

“The US Constitution serves the same function as the British royal family: it offers a comforting symbol of tradition and continuity, thereby masking a radical change in the actual system of power.”

Offers Tradition Function Constitution British Symbols Radical Royal Comforting Continuity Royal Family Us Constitution Radical Change

Author:Joseph Sobran

“When a judge goes beyond [his proper function] and reads entirely new values into the Constitution, values the framers and ratifiers did not put there, he deprives the people of their liberty. That liberty, which the Constitution clearly envisions, is the liberty of the people to set their own social agenda through the process of democracy.”

People Values Social Process Liberty Democracy Judging Function Constitution Agendas Framers

Author:Robert Bork

“The Constitution was definitely and specifically designed to hobble all people who are so foolish as to think themselves capable of leading others by compulsion. It so functions today to an extent exasperating to the authoritarians - which is why they want to get rid of it.”

People Thinking Want Today Capable Function Constitution Foolish Compulsion

Author:Leonard Read

“Outside of the Constitution we have no legal authority more than private citizens, and within it we have only so much as that instrument gives us. This broad principle limits all our functions and applies to all subjects.”

Giving Government Political Liberty Principles Subjects Citizens Limits Authority Function Constitution Instruments Broads

Book:The Papers of Andrew Johnson: February-August 1867

Source: The Papers of Andrew Johnson: February-August 1867

“While the president is to nominate that individual [to Supreme Court], we in the Senate must provide our advice and consent. This function is not well-defined. The Constitution does not set down a road map. It does not require hearings. In fact, it does not even require questioning on your understanding of the Constitution nor the role of the Supreme Court.”

Wells Doe Facts Individual Understanding President Roles Advice Function Constitution Court Hearing Supreme Defined Maps Senate Questioning Consent Supreme Court Road Maps

Author:Mike DeWine

“I don't know why you should isolate women in this regard. If you have a traditional leader who says 'I am the sole exclusive ruler, I am the autocrat', it will affect everybody in the area, whether they are men or women. The challenge that South Africa faces, and it is not a new challenge, a whole range of African countries have faced this challenge, is that where you have institutional traditional leadership, which in our country is protected by the Constitution, how does that institution function side by side with a democratic system?”

“The notion that Congress can change the meaning given a constitutional provision by the Court is subversive of the function of judicial review; and it is not the less so because the Court promises to allow it only when the Constitution is moved to the left.”

Left Given Promise Function Constitution Court Moved Notion Congress Reviews Provision Judicial Subversive Judicial Review

Book:The Tempting of America

Source: The Tempting of America

“Revealingly, the central function of the Constitution as law--the supreme law--was to impose limitations not on the behavior of ordinary citizens but on the federal government. The government, and those who ran it, were not placed outside the law, but expressly targeted by it. Indeed, the Bill of Rights is little more than a description of the lines that the most powerful political officials are barred from crossing, even if they have the power to do so and even when the majority of citizens might wish them to do so.”

“You must purge yourself before finding faults in others. When you see a mistake in somebody else, try to find if you are making the same mistake. This is the way to take judgment and to turn it into improvement. Do not look at others' bodies with envy or with superiority. All people are born with different constitutions. Never compare with others. Each one's capacities are a function of his or her internal strength. Know your capacities and continually improve upon them.”

“The chemical differences among various species and genera of animals and plants are certainly as significant for the history of their origins as the differences in form. If we could define clearly the differences in molecular constitution and functions of different kinds of organisms, there would be possible a more illuminating and deeper understanding of question of the evolutionary reactions of organisms than could ever be expected from morphological considerations.”

“As the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial departments of the United States are co-ordinate, and each equally bound to support the Constitution, it follows that each must in the exercise of its functions be guided by the text of the Constitution according to its own interpretation of it.”

States United United States Support Exercise Function Constitution Bounds Department Executives Interpretation Judicial

Book:1829-1836

Source: 1829-1836

“Whoever attentively considers the different departments of power must perceive, that, in a government in which they are separated from each other, the judiciary, from the nature of its functions, will always be the least dangerous to the political rights of the Constitution; because it will be least in a capacity to annoy or injure them.”

Different Government Political Rights Dangerous Capacity Function Constitution Perceive Department Annoying Judiciary Political Rights

Book:The Federalist on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788, with an Appendix Containing the Letters of Pacificus and Helvidius on the Proclamation of Neutrality of 1793

Source: The Federalist on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788, with an Appendix Containing the Letters of Pacificus and Helvidius on the Proclamation of Neutrality of 1793

“The principle of the Constitution is that of a separation of legislative, Executive and Judiciary functions, except in cases specified. If this principle be not expressed in direct terms, it is clearly the spirit of the Constitution, and it ought to be so commented and acted on by every friend of free government.”

Ifs Government Spirit Term Principles Cases Ought Direct Function Constitution Separation Executives Judiciary Free Government Separation Of Powers Executive Branch

Book:The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 29: 1 March 1796 to 31 December 1797

Source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 29: 1 March 1796 to 31 December 1797

“For the Humanist, . . . head and heart . . . must function together. . . . The constitution of the Phillips Exeter Academy reads: 'Though goodness without knowledge . . . is weak and feeble, yet knowledge without goodness is dangerous. . . . Both united form the noblest character and lay the surest foundation of usefulness to mankind.'”

Heart Character Together Form United Mankind Dangerous Goodness Weak Function Constitution Foundation Lays Humanist Academy Usefulness Head And Heart Exeter

Author:Corliss Lamont