♦ nivek ♦ Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 "A theory deeply etched in our law [is that] a free society prefers to punish the few who abuse the rights of free speech after they break the law rather than to throttle them and all others beforehand." -- Clarence Thomas U. S. Supreme Court Justice Source: Avis v. Aguilar, 2000 http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Clarence.Thomas.Quote.310D "The constitutional right of free expression… is designed and intended to remove governmental restraints from the arena of public discussion, putting the decision as to what views shall be voiced in the hands of each of us, in the hope that the use of such freedom will ultimately produce a more capable citizenry and more perfect polity and in the belief that no other approach would comport with the premise of individual dignity and choice upon which our political systems rests." -- John Marshall Harlan (1899-1971) U. S. Supreme Court Justice Source: Cohen v. California, 1971 http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/John.Harlan.Quote.4053 "It is the essence of the institutions of liberty that it be recognized that guilt is personal and cannot be attributed to the holding of opinions or to mere intent in the absence of overt acts." -- Justice Charles Evans Hughes (1862-1948) Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Source: Harvard Law Review, April 1948 http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Charles.Evans.Hughes.Quote.4098 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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