The Constitution is a living and breathing document… intended by our Founders to be interpreted in the light of the constantly evolving experience of the American people.
Constitution Quotes
There is danger that, if the court does not temper its doctrinaire logic with a little practical wisdom, it will convert the constitutional Bill of Rights into a suicide pact. (Terminiello v. City of Chicago, 1949)
The strength of the Constitution lies entirely in the determination of each citizen to defend it. Only if every single citizen feels duty bound to do his share in this defense are the constitutional rights secure.
Constitutions should consist only of general provisions; the reason is that they must necessarily be permanent, and that they cannot calculate for the possible change of things.
The Constitution of the United States is the result of the collected wisdom of our country.
The Constitution guarantees free speech. It doessn’t guarentee listeners.
The Constitution is not a panacea for every blot upon the public welfare, nor should this Court, ordained as a judicial body, be thought of as a general haven for reform movements.
Whenever the Constitution comes between me and the virtue of the white women of the South, I say to hell with the Constitution. (governor of SC -1911-1915), US Senator -1925-1932)
Those who made and endorsed our Constitution knew man’s nature, and it is to their ideas, rather than to the temptations of utopia, that we must ask that our judges adhere.
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 […]
