"It seems self-evident that all speech criticizing government rulers and challenging current beliefs may be dangerous to the status quo. With full knowledge of this danger, the Framers rested our First Amendment on the premise that the slightest suppression of thought, speech, press, or public assembly is still more dangerous. This means that individuals are guaranteed an undiluted and unequivocal right to express themselves on questions of current public interest. It means that Americans discuss such questions as of right and not on sufferance of legislatures, courts or any other governmental agencies. It means that courts are without power to appraise and penalize utterances upon their notion that these utterances are dangerous. In my view, this uncompromising interpretation of the Bill of Rights is the one that must prevail if its freedoms are to be saved. Tyrannical totalitarian governments cannot safely allow their people to speak with complete freedom. I believe with the Framers that our free Government can."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Democratic Party (United States) politiciansJustices of the Supreme Court of the United StatesLawyers from the United StatesMembers of the United States SenatePoliticians from Alabama
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Concurring opinion, Weiman v. Updegraff, 344 U.S. 183 (1952) at 194.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hugo_Black
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Hugo Black
Hugo Lafayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was an American politician and jurist. A member of the Democratic Party, Black represented the state of Alabama in the United States Senate from 1927 to 1937, and served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1937 until he retired shortly before his death.
34 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Hugo Black →
Related Quotes
"It is part of the established tradition in the use of juries as instruments of public justice that the jury be a body…"
"[...] all legal restrictions which curtail the civil rights of a single racial group are immediately suspect. That is…"
"The liberty of every American citizen freely to come and to go must frequently, in the face of sudden danger, be temp…"
"Again, it is a new doctrine of constitutional law that one indicted for disobedience to an unconstitutional statute m…"
"The First Amendment: rests on the assumption that the widest dissemination of information from diverse and antagonist…"
"[I]t is true that [the provisions of the Bill of Rights] were designed to meet ancient evils. But they are the same k…"
"The 'establishment of religion' clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Go…"
"That Amendment requires the state to be a neutral in its relations with groups of religious believers and nonbeliever…"
"The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We coul…"
"Under our constitutional system, courts stand against any winds that blow as havens of refuge for those who might oth…"