121 quotes found
"The Fourth Amendment and the personal rights it secures have a long history. At the very core stands the right of a man to retreat into his own home and there be free from unreasonable governmental intrusion."
"I think that the court has misapplied a great constitutional principle. I cannot see how 'official religion' is established by letting those who want to say a prayer say it. On the contrary, I think that to deny the wish of these school children to join in reciting this prayer is to deny them the opportunity of sharing in the spiritual heritage of the nation."
"I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description [hard-core pornography]; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that."
"Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime."
"In the governmental structure created by our Constitution, the Executive is endowed with enormous power in the two related areas of national defense and international relations. This power, largely unchecked by the Legislative [1] and Judicial [2] branches, has been pressed to the very hilt since the advent of the nuclear missile age. For better or for worse, the simple fact is that a President of the United States possesses vastly greater constitutional independence in these two vital areas of power than does, say, a prime minister of a country with a parliamentary form of government. In the absence of the governmental checks and balances present in other areas of our national life, the only effective restraint upon executive policy and power in the areas of national defense and international affairs may lie in an enlightened citizenry — in an informed and critical public opinion which alone can here protect the values of democratic government. For this reason, it is perhaps here that a press that is alert, aware, and free most vitally serves the basic purpose of the First Amendment. For, without an informed and free press, there cannot be an enlightened people."
"Several decisions of this Court make clear that freedom of personal choice in matters of marriage and family life is one of the liberties protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. . . . That right necessarily includes the right of a woman to decide whether or not to terminate her pregnancy."
"The Executive must have the largely unshared duty to determine and preserve the degree of internal security necessary to exercise that power successfully. It is an awesome responsibility requiring judgment and wisdom of a high order. A very first principle of that wisdom would be an insistence upon avoiding secrecy for its own sake. For when everything is classified, then nothing is classified and the system becomes one to be disregarded by the cynical or the careless and to be manipulated by those intent on self-protection or self-promotion."
"But just because you have a right to do something doesn’t mean it’s right to do it."
"Although we cannot place all the blame for the dismal condition of LDCs on Keynesian economics, it bears a heavy responsibility for much of the pain and suffering in the Third World."
"What about the 200-year record of prominent Democrats who didn't bother with code words? They were openly and explicitly for slavery before the Civil War, supported lynching and 'Jim Crow' laws after the war, and regularly defended segregation and white supremacy throughout most of the 20th century.'"
"That is just total nonsense and anybody who believes that is an idiot or a liar. The race issue was a fundamental problem. It was just a cancer on American society from day one."
"Until conservatives once again hold Republicans to the same standard they hold Democrats, they will have no credibility and deserve no respect. They can start building some by admitting to themselves that Bush caused many of the problems they are protesting."
"I began studying the political history of race in America. Having worked in Congress and at the White House, I have some familiarity with the nature of politics and how politicians think. I thought I could use this knowledge to illuminate this one aspect of the race problem in America in ways that might help us better deal with its long, sordid history. What quickly jumped out at me is a fact that seems obvious in retrospect, but which I had never really thought about. Virtually every significant racist in American political history was a Democrat. Before the Civil War, the Democratic Party was the party of slavery. It was based largely in the south and almost all of its leaders were slave owners, including Andrew Jackson and Thomas Jefferson, considered by Democrats to be co-founders of their party."
"McCarthy was a Republican. The Democrats, however, have skeletons in their own closet and it's worth remembering them, too. For example, Democrat Woodrow Wilson's Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer, who was just as rabid an anti-Communist as McCarthy, did far more to repress free speech and political freedom than McCarthy ever attempted. It wasn't a Republican president who locked up thousands of loyal Americans of Japanese descent in concentration camps for years. It was Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt. And it wasn't a Republican who wiretapped and snooped on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but Democrats John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert, who signed the order as Attorney General."
"The Democratic Party was the party of slavery and Jim Crow, and the 'Solid South' was solidly Democratic for one hundred years. All of the racism that we associate with that region originated with and was enforced by elected Democrats. It could not have been otherwise, there were virtually no Republicans in power in the south for a century after the end of Reconstruction... Redress a larger historical imbalance in the way people perceive the two major political parties. Democrats have been effectively cleansed of their racist past, their sins implicitly transferred to the Republicans."
"It would be much better for everyone if the black vote was 'in play' and both major parties had to compete for it. As virtual captives of the Democrats since 1936, blacks have ended up being taken for granted by them and mostly ignored by Republicans."
"After careful research along these lines, I came to the annoying conclusion that Keynes had been 100 percent right in the 1930s. Previously, I had thought the opposite. But facts were facts and there was no denying my conclusion. It didn’t affect the argument in my book, which was only about the rise and fall of ideas. The fact that Keynesian ideas were correct as well as popular simply made my thesis stronger."
"I think almost everyone, including me, thought the election of our first black president would lead to new efforts to improve the dismal economic condition of African-Americans. In fact, Obama has seldom touched on the issue of race, and when he has he has emphasized the conservative themes of responsibility and self-help. Even when Republicans have suppressed minority voting, in a grotesque campaign to fight nonexistent voter fraud, Obama has said and done nothing."
"I don’t expect any conservatives to recognize the truth of Obama’s fundamental conservatism for at least a couple of decades—perhaps only after a real progressive presidency. In any case, today they are too invested in painting him as the devil incarnate in order to frighten grassroots Republicans into voting to keep Obama from confiscating all their guns, throwing them into FEMA re-education camps, and other nonsense that is believed by many Republicans. But just as they eventually came to appreciate Bill Clinton’s core conservatism, Republicans will someday see that Obama was no less conservative."
"I have decided to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence. Now I simply concede the point. They are right. We do expect something in return. We expect to foster a conservative governing philosophy consisting of limited government and respect for traditional American virtues."
"I would imagine that there’s probably a gun in the school to protect from potential grizzlies."
"More and more parents are coming to realize their children are suffering at the hands of a system built to strangle any reform, any innovation, or any change. . . . This realization is becoming more evident as the momentum builds for an education revolution."
"More and more studies show that kids are actually stoppers of the disease and they don’t get it and transmit it themselves, so we should be in a posture of — the default should be getting back to school kids in person, in the classroom"
"I voted against the nomination of Betsy DeVos, a billionaire Republican donor, because she is the most incompetent cabinet-level nominee I have ever seen."
"During the first term of the Obama administration, no fewer than eighteen billionaires came together under the Koch brothers' leadership to oppose the president's initiatives and move this country in an extreme right-wing direction. Some of the other billionaires involved were Richard Mellon Scaife, an heir to the Mellon banking and Gulf oil fortunes; Henry and Linda Bradley, defense contractors; John M. Olin, involved in chemicals and munitions; the DeVos family, the founders of the Amway corporation; and the Coors brewing family of Colorado."
"Today, citizens from all across the country came to Washington to honor the precious gift of life, The March for Life movement has for nearly four decades given a voice to those who have no voice. It is a privilege to stand together with thousands of Americans in solidarity and faithful commitment to our solemn duty to protect and defend the lives of the most innocent among us. The Republican majority in Congress has pledged to protect the sanctity of life by ensuring no tax dollars are used for abortion, a policy supported by the vast majority of America. Appreciation goes to those whose tireless efforts continue to shine a light on the need to protect the sanctity and value of human life. May we never forget that our cause is just and timeless because there is nothing more fundamental to our humanity than to defend life."
"It’s imperative we have a system that’s accessible for every single American, that’s affordable for every single American, that incentivizes and provides the highest quality health care that the world knows, and provides choices to patients so they are the ones selecting who is treating them, when, where, and the like."
"The Lord has gifted an individual with life, and no one else has the right to take that away from someone that hasn't developed a voice themselves."
"They’re trying to keep the populists of both left and right apart with cultural issues, and they’re doing it to insulate themselves from any combination or constituency that can come after their power, perks and wealth. They’re dividing and conquering."
"Watched the clip again and would like to reiterate that Ken Cuccunnelli is a racist who doesn’t understand the first thing about America."
"The new bill allocates $199.5 million of the total appropriation to VOA and $138 million for USAGM’s operations. Additionally, nonprofit grantees will also be funded through this bill to the tune of $112.5 million for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, $69 million for Middle East Broadcasting Networks, $53.5 million for Radio Free Asia and $40.5 million for the Open Technology Fund. The Trump administration pushed to defund the nonprofit media outlets, but Lamberth has largely restored their funding in court after they all sued. Radio Free Asia previously said it was pausing operations but in recent months has resumed some publishing activities. “With new funding, if enacted, RFA anticipates ramping up additional news operations that have been paused in the Asia-Pacific region,” RFA spokesman Rohit Mahajan said in a statement. Sen. Brian Schatz (Hawaii), the top Democrat on the state and foreign operations subcommittee, applauded the bipartisan negotiation that led to the bill but expressed worry that it still represented a cut to government broadcasters. “While the bill ensures continued funding for our international broadcasting grantees,” he wrote in a statement, “it forces cuts at a time when they are trying to provide critical services in Ukraine, the Middle East, and across the Indo-Pacific.” Schatz and his House counterpart, Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Florida), previously criticized the Trump administration’s “illegal gutting” of the agency. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Florida), the Senate and House appropriations subcommittee chairs, did not respond to requests for comment."
"This isn’t true. Please don’t spread lies to foment or encourage political violence in our state. Or anywhere. Thanks."
"For the rest of her life, she never quit her quest to help others."
"At a time when minorities, including Native Americans, were subjected to considerable economic and social discrimination, Anderson’s determination to attend college and return the benefits of her education to her community was notable. Her role as educator, legislator, and public health reform leader aided the Native American community as well as the whole of society."
"She also championed the fight to recognize Native American fishing rights on Huron Bay."
"I believe more than ever the decision to have ab abortion is a personal one."
"In the campaign in my district, I was called a murderer and a person who wanted to kill babies."
"My whole position on the issue has been distorted and cruelly twisted."
"I alone was singled out on the issue even though there were many male senators who supported my stand."
"I believe in their hearts, women are seeking some form of liberation."
"Beebe’s service on numerous state and national commissions reflected her devotion to improving the lives of all Americans; her concerns and interests ranged from the women’s movement to mental health, from minority advancement to penal reform. She served as a role model for an entire generation of Michigan women."
"A woman needs to be interested in politics, whatever her party, for the good of the country."
"I started out ahead and with the help of these people we ran a campaign to stay ahead"
"I plan to get the office back up to speed and prepared for such a merger -- if it's approved by county commissioners."
"She's somebody who stands up and speaks out on causes that she thinks are important. ... We need more people like that."
"I never really envisioned myself running a city. It just kind of came upon me. It’s almost a force, a sense of responsibility that comes upon you."
"From a very early age, I was immersed in politics and surrounded with people who believed in the ability of government to help people"
"I knew nothing about how the Democratic Party worked in Ann Arbor. The next thing I knew, they made me ward chair."
"It’s kind of unbelievable"
"I haven’t been a woman (in office), I’ve been a mayor."
"One of my biggest regrets was having had to miss a lot of family time when my children were young, so I feel fortunate now that I’m retired to be able to spend time helping out with my grandchildren"
"Brater was cautious and sometimes secretive while pursuing an aggressive policy agend."
"The News, which was heavily critical of Brater at times, described Brater as an intensely reserved person, saying her adversaries saw her as calculating and secretive while her friends viewed her as shy and misunderstood."
"My issue is just oversight and making sure that I can turn back to Michiganders and say, if you are going to make the decision to invest in crypto, you are safe. You are not going to be scammed. You are not going to be defrauded out of that money. ...This administration has ...systematically dismantled independent commissions: the FTC, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the ...So now we have a new industry, crypto ...and I'm supportive of figuring out good regulation. ...Michigan is the number two online casino and sports betting state, $74 million annually. The tribes and our licensed sports prediction markets are the ones who control that. My understanding is that the CFTC regulations are clear on this issue, that sports contracts should not be allowed because they are equivalent to... gambling. ...President Trump announced that he is launching his own Truth Predict that would ...support event contracts and ...be traded."
"[M]ost Americans who voted for President Trump... did not vote for chaos. ...They didn't vote for cuts to veterans. They didn't vote for...tariffs. ...[I]n my state, it was an economic security vote. ...[H]e is gonna make you pay in every corner of your life. ...He may create a self-inflicted recession."
"I'm a national-security person, so I made a quad chart. ...I decided to work on the issues that fell into the quadrant that was both strategic and irreversible."
"In 2008, 2009, 2010, our recession was pretty close to a depression in Michigan. ...I'm not gonna stand silent while he threatens that in my state."
"[W]e need to get back to... fundamentals. The middle class is... essential... We need to grow and expand it. ...[W]e need to focus on... economic security... national security, and... democracy."
"I come from a world of war planning... of constant, prudent planning.... where you can't just play defense only. There's no such thing as winning, in any operation or in any war, by just playing defense. What we owe the country is a strategy that does more than play defense."
"There’s a lot of leaders in the Democratic Party. I liken it to a solar system. We have stars, and we have planets with their own gravitational pull, but we don’t have a sun that we all center around."
"I would push and prod for... [a] unified approach... I was going to take my best stab at it... We have lots of ideas, lots of different voices, and so in order to keep that coalition together, people have treated each other very carefully and run party offices and the party apparatus by consensus."
"Kamala Harris had a very short time to formulate her campaign. ...Donald Trump, whether you believe him or not, prioritized the talking point of cost of living and the economy. Democrats have policy plans... about good things... I still think we have good ideas. But when you prioritize everything, you actually prioritize nothing."
"In the Senate, we don’t... divide into progressive versus moderate... behind closed doors. The real debate... is: Do you believe that Trump’s second term is an existential threat to American democracy, or... like his first term, survivable if we... wait... and let his bad policies boomerang on him? ...[S]ome ...have been around and seen so many things ...in Washington that their approach... is just: wait. I do not fall in that camp. It’s not just about age. It’s approach. ...It is not like being in leadership means you’re automatically old guard and need to be booted out. But... leaders in the party are feeling upward pressure... [T]hat’s a good thing."
"If there's a threat coming from abroad or, you know, something happening, you have to call balls and strikes on that or else people can get, you know, deeply hurt."
"The smell of that - the burning buildings and that very sort of toxic chemically smell that was just hanging over New York for weeks, if not months, and it completely changed my life."
"I really believe that the existential threat to the country is not coming from abroad. It's the shrinking middle-class at home and what that does to our stability here."
"They were decent to each other. We were all on the same team, and I'm so glad that I got to be there in that moment to see that. And I'm so concerned with how far we feel from that moment."
"What gives me hope is that I go home every weekend, and the vast majority of Michiganders live in that 80% middle that don't scream on the internet, that don't, you know, want to hurt their neighbors when they happen to disagree. They just want team normal."
"It was not just the shooting. It was the fire, and the community is just trying to understand what happened. It is a testament to law enforcement."
"There's plenty of time for us to figure out what happened and what the motive was for this man, but it just - it doesn't matter at this point. These people are victims and they're survivors and this community is going to have a long road back to healing."
"I think we need to just grapple with the fact that we have people all over the country who are using violence as a way to convey how they feel, whether they're going through mental hardship or they've got an agenda, and it is just a real - just we have to grapple with it as a country."
"Acknowledging you have a problem is the first step to recovery, and then we have to understand we've clearly got mental health issues."
"Trump has laid out a whole lot of enemies that are American citizens."
"Trump is ready to bring the whole weight of the federal government against Americans he perceives as enemies. Why? Because he has one goal. Making sure that he and his ilk never have to give up power. ...I think between the strikes in the Caribbean, his efforts to identify domestic terrorists, and his deployment of force in American cities, that seems to be where we're headed."
"The Trump administration notified Congress that we... are in armed conflict with a number of cartels... "designated terrorist organizations." ...But here's what's different about the strikes and what's precedent setting. The president and secretary Hegseth are refusing to tell the American people... the names, and they won't tell us why they're being targeted."
"A few weeks ago the Senate Armed Services Committee, the committee I sit on... both sides of the aisle asked the Defense Department for the name and number of the organizations that the United States is currently at war with. They refused to provide it. We asked for a copy of the memo from the Justice Department that lays out the legal case for these strikes. They refused to provide it."
"[T]he American people deserve to know who we are at war with, especially if people are being killed in our name."
"Trump's full reorientation towards the "enemy within" ...has major implications for his use of force..."
"[T]he president quietly put out an directing the Department of Justice to create a list of "domestic terror organizations." ...[G]roups that are accused of anti-Americanism, , anti-Christianity, or hostility toward those who hold "traditional American views on family, religion or morality. ...{T]hese groups don't have to be violent to get ...on the list. The order suggested that DOJ could look at chat groups, in-person meetings, social media and even s."
"Trump plans to see how far he can stretch the law before someone tells him no, and if the administration won't publicly name s in the , you can bet that they're not going to tell you the name of this new list of domestic terror organizations. Only this time... it will be on American streets, and in American homes."
"The next logical step... target American citizens. In theory, people... would be wiretapped, their homes could be searched or they could be arrested just for disagreeing with President Trump's agenda."
"This is... fundamentally un-American and strikes at the heart of who we are as a people..."
"Trump has created at least two "s"... to go after Trumps's perceived enemies. As a CIA officer, the idea that s could be asked to target Americans turns my stomach, and it would shift us into a modern day surveillance state."
"Turning the federal government against Trump's enemies goes hand in hand with his use of force in American cities, both federal law enforcement and the military. ...[T]he administration ordered the creation of two new National Guard units, a standing quick reaction force that can deploy anywhere in the country, and... separately, National Guard units in all 50 states focused on quelling so-called civil disturbances."
"Trump has been very clear about his intent. At Quantico... he instructed his military brass to use cities as "training grounds" and many times he's floated the idea of using the Insurrection Act so that military units can raid, detain and arrest ."
"The president has... deployed ICE and other federal law enforcement to these same cities... In some cases... federal officers are playing fast and loose with their tactics, which... could lead to a deadly escalation."
"The videos out of Chicago are shocking! Federal agents pulling their weapons on highways... injuring and... killing civilians. Many are masked, not wearing uniforms and driving unmarked cars."
"For those of us who served abroad, it feels like another country. ...[W]e're about two weeks away from a bloody incident that spirals out of control, and this is just the kind of incident that Trump wants, to justify more force coming in."
"If the president is going to fundamentally redefine the use of force in America... I believe Trump is reshaping the country to hold on to power."
"Trump is following the same playbook as almost every authoritarian in history. ...Once in office, surround yourself with people loyal to you. Accumulate power and influence, and... start using it against your perceived enemies."
"There comes a time in every authoritarian playbook... a tipping point. You accumulate so much power that you realize that if you ever lose... your opponent... can use that very power against you. So you hold on to it with everything you have."
"The Caribbean strikes, the list of domestic terrorists, military and law enforcements across our American streets. He seems to be laying the groundwork to stay in power."
"There are two ways... both out of the same authoritarian playbook. ...Trump finds a pretext, invokes the Insurrection Act and tries to impose . Elections therefore could be cancelled, or if they happen, he could surround polling places with military and federal law enforcement to intimidate voters. The second option... could... swing an election. Labeling opposition groups, candidates and elected officials as terrorists or criminals and going after the infrastructure that allows for competitive elections."
"There is more than one way to destroy an election... to lose our democracy. We're in danger of that..."
"I am not an alarmist. ...April of 2020 ...the first time Trump started tweeting about election fraud ...that if he lose, it could only be because of fraud. ...January 6, 2021, as rioters attacked the capitol I barricaded myself... and looked for something I could use as a weapon. The thing I thought was unthinkable was happening."
"Trump hasn't planned for... the will of the American people. Americans have an internal barometer for things that sound and smell authoritarian. ...[I]n Michigan ...even ardent Trump supporters don't like what they're seeing ...That should give us hope."
"Congress needs to reclaim our power... over the use of force."
"To my Republican colleagues... in the spirit of John McCain we need to start pushing back where we don't agree on how force is being used."
"Leadership is about the actions you take, not the things you say behind closed doors."
"I'm introducing a bill, the No Troops in Our Streets Act that gives Congress the ability to immediately end a military deployment in American cities."
"To the military. You too have a critical role... According to law, there is such a thing as an illegal order. ...[I]n the choice between loyalty to the Constitution and loyalty to one man, there is only one right answer, and every one of you has taken that oath."
"To our s. You can... exercise your political power to call out Trump's dangerous use of our military. ...Don't ever underestimate the power of your voice in how impactful it can be when you speak up. ...DM me. We're getting the band back together."
"To our state leaders. You have a responsibility to hold the line, protect the integrity of our elections and withstand the pressure that the Trump administration is... starting to apply."
"Ordinary citizens... can help stiffen the spines of people at home. ...[L]ocal elections are going to be more important than ever."
"To regular Americans. You can... speak out about what you're seeing, and organize peacefully against it. Throughout history, grassroots movements have been the only thing that have pushed back on government overreach."
"To everyone... Don't give up the ship! Generations of us have fought against impossible odds to build the country we have today. ...I would not be here if generations of women before me had not fought for... 100 years to get the right to vote. We don't have the luxury of deciding this is too hard!"
"This is the country we all love. Our country needs us right now. It is our moment to step up."
"Individual rights have been recognized by our jurisprudence only after long and costly struggles. They should not be struck down by anything less than the gravest necessity. We assent to their temporary suspension only to the extent that they constitute a clear and present danger to the effective prosecution of the war and only as a means of preserving those rights undiminished for ourselves and future generations. Before giving such an assent, therefore, we should be convinced of the existence of a reasonable necessity and be satisfied that the suspension is in accordance with the legislative intention."
"Common sense and justice dictate that a citizen accused of a crime should have the fullest hearing possible, plus the opportunity to present every reasonable defense. Only an unenlightened jurisprudence condemns an individual without according him those rights. Such a denial is especially oppressive where a full hearing might disclose that the administrative action underlying the prosecution is the product of excess wartime emotions."
"Experience demonstrates that in time of war individual liberties cannot always be entrusted safely to uncontrolled administrative discretion. Illustrative of this proposition is the remark attributed to one of the members of petitioner's local board to the effect that "I do not have any damned use for Jehovah's Witnesses." The presumption against foreclosing the defense of illegal and arbitrary administrative action is therefore strong."
"Criminal punishment for disobedience of an arbitrary and invalid order is objectionable regardless of whether the order be interlocutory or final."
"That an individual should languish in prison for five years without being accorded the opportunity of proving that the prosecution was based upon arbitrary and illegal administrative action is not in keeping with the high standards of our judicial system. Especially is this so where neither public necessity nor rule of law or statute leads inexorably to such a harsh result. The law knows no finer hour than when it cuts through formal concepts and transitory emotions to protect unpopular citizens against discrimination and persecution. I can perceive no other course for the law to take in this case."
"This exclusion of "all persons of Japanese ancestry, both alien and non-alien," from the Pacific Coast area on a plea of military necessity in the absence of martial law ought not to be approved. Such exclusion goes over "the very brink of constitutional power" and falls into the ugly abyss of racism."
"The judicial test of whether the Government, on a plea of military necessity, can validly deprive an individual of any of his constitutional rights is whether the deprivation is reasonably related to a public danger that is so "imme diate, imminent, and impending" as not to admit of delay and not to permit the intervention of ordinary constitutional processes to alleviate the danger. Civilian Exclusion Order No. 34, banishing from a prescribed area of the Pacific Coast "all persons of Japanese ancestry, both alien and non-alien," clearly does not meet that test. Being an obvious racial discrimination, the order deprives all those within its scope of the equal protection of the laws as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment. It further deprives these individuals of their constitutional rights to live and work where they will, to establish a home where they choose and to move about freely. In excommunicating them without benefit of hearings, this order also deprives them of all their constitutional rights to procedural due process. Yet no reasonable relation to an "immediate, imminent, and impending" public danger is evident to support this racial restriction which is one of the most sweeping and complete deprivations of constitutional rights in the history of this nation in the absence of martial law."
"It must be conceded that the military and naval situation in the spring of 1942 was such as to generate a very real fear of invasion of the Pacific Coast, accompanied by fears of sabotage and espionage in that area. The military command was therefore justified in adopting all reasonable means necessary to combat these dangers. In adjudging the military action taken in light of the then apparent dangers, we must not erect too high or too meticulous standards; it is necessary only that the action have some reasonable relation to the removal of the dangers of invasion, sabotage and espionage. But the exclusion, either temporarily or permanently, of all persons with Japanese blood in their veins has no such reasonable relation. And that relation is lacking because the exclusion order necessarily must rely for its reasonableness upon the assumption that all persons of Japanese ancestry may have a dangerous tendency to commit sabotage and espionage and to aid our Japanese enemy in other ways. It is difficult to believe that reason, logic or experience could be marshalled in support of such an assumption."
"The main reasons relied upon by those responsible for the forced evacuation, therefore, do not prove a reasonable relation between the group characteristics of Japanese Americans and the dangers of invasion, sabotage and espionage. The reasons appear, instead, to be largely an accumulation of much of the misinformation, half-truths and insinuations that for years have been directed against Japanese Americans by people with racial and economic prejudices-the same people who have been among the foremost advocates of the evacuation.'"
"No one denies, of course, that there were some disloyal persons of Japanese descent on the Pacific Coast who did all in their power to aid their ancestral land. Similar disloyal activities have been engaged in by many persons of German, Italian and even more pioneer stock in our country. But to infer that examples of individual disloyalty prove group disloyalty and justify discriminatory action against the entire group is to deny that under our system of law individual guilt is the sole basis for deprivation of rights. Moreover, this inference, which is at the very heart of the evacuation orders, has been used in support of the abhorrent and despicable treatment of minority groups by the dictatorial tyrannies which this nation is now pledged to destroy. To give constitutional sanction to that inference in this case, however well-intentioned may have been the military command on the Pacific Coast, is to adopt one of the cruelest of the rationales used by our enemies to destroy the dignity of the individual and to encourage and open the door to discriminatory actions against other minority groups in the passions of tomorrow."
"No adequate reason is given for the failure to treat these Japanese Americans on an individual basis by holding investigations and hearings to separate the loyal from the disloyal, as was done in the case of persons of German and Italian ancestry. Yet nearly four months elapsed after Pearl Harbor before the first exclusion order was issued; nearly eight months went by until the last order was is sued; and the last of these "subversive" persons was not actually removed until almost eleven months had elapsed. Leisure and deliberation seem to have been more of the essence than speed. And the fact that conditions were not such as to warrant a declaration of martial law adds strength to the belief that the factors of time and military necessity were not as urgent as they have been represented to be."
"Any inconvenience that may have accompanied an attempt to conform to procedural due process cannot be said to justify violations of constitutional rights of individuals."
"I dissent, therefore, from this legalization of racism. Racial discrimination in any form and in any degree has no justifiable part whatever in our democratic way life. It is unattractive in any setting but it is utterly revolting among a free people who have embraced the principles set forth in the Constitution of the United States. All residents of this nation are kin in some way by blood or culture to a foreign land. Yet they are primarily and necessarily a part of the new and distinct civilization of the United States. They must accordingly be treated at all times as the heirs of the American experiment and as entitled to all the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution."
"Murphy fought against discrimination in many forms. He was the first justice to include the word "racism" in an opinion, in his vehement dissent in Korematsu v. United States (1944). In Falbo v. United States (1944), he wrote, "The law knows no finer hour than when it cuts through formal concepts and transitory emotions to protect unpopular citizens against discrimination and persecution.""