“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
“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
“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
“Our country as a whole, no less than the Hastings College of Law, values tolerance, cooperation, learning, and the amicable resolution of conflicts. But we seek to achieve those goals through "[a] confident pluralism that conduces to civil peace and advances democratic consensus-building," not by abridging First Amendment rights.” FirstsCountryWholeLawValuesGoalRightsAchieveBuildingCollegeConflictDemocraticToleranceOur CountryResolutionCooperationAmendmentsConsensusFirst AmendmentPluralismFirst Amendment RightsConsensus Building Author:Samuel Alito
“The First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment rights in the United States Constitution were being violated in Albany again and again - freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, the equal protection of the laws - I could count at least 30 such violations. Yet the president, sworn to uphold the Constitution, and all the agencies of the United States government at his disposal, were nowhere to be seen.” FirstsStatesGovernmentLawPresidentUnitedUnited StatesRightsEqualSpeechConstitutionProtectionAgencyAmendmentsFreedom Of SpeechAgain And AgainViolationFirst AmendmentAssemblyState GovernmentUnited States GovernmentEqual ProtectionAlbanyFreedom Of AssemblyFourteenth Amendment Author:Howard Zinn
“Despite the apparent absoluteness of the First Amendment, there are any number of ways of getting around it, ways that are known to any student of law. In general, the strategy is to manipulate the distinction between speech and action which is at bottom a distinction between inconsequential and consequential behavior.” WayFirstsActionLawNumbersKnownStudentsSpeechBehaviorConstitutionStrategyBottomDespiteDistinctionAmendmentsManipulateFirst AmendmentInconsequential Author:Stanley Fish
“I think the reality is that copyright law has for a very long time been a tiny little part of American jurisprudence, far removed from traditional First Amendment jurisprudence, and that made sense before the Internet. Now there is an unavoidable link between First Amendment interests and the scope of copyright law. The legal system is recognizing for the first time the extraordinary expanse of copyright regulation and its regulation of ordinary free-speech activities.” ThinkingFirstsLittlesLongMadeRealityLawInterestInternetActivitySpeechLong TimeOrdinaryFirst TimeExtraordinaryTinyTraditionalLinksAmendmentsRegulationFree SpeechRecognizingScopeFirst AmendmentCopyrightLegal SystemExpanseJurisprudenceCopyright Law Author:Lawrence Lessig
“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