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Anthony Kennedy on Independence Day

born 1936 United States

← All quotes by Anthony Kennedy

6 quotes

As the Constitution endures, persons in every generation can invoke its principles in their own search for greater freedom.

A law imposing criminal penalties on protected speech is a stark example of speech suppression.

First Amendment freedoms are most in danger when the government seeks to control thought or to justify its laws for that impermissible end. The right to think is the beginning of freedom, and speech must be protected from the government because speech is the beginning of thought.

The Government may not suppress lawful speech as the means to suppress unlawful speech.

Inconvenience does not absolve the government of its obligation to tolerate speech.

When Government seeks to use its full power, including the criminal law, to command where a person may get his or her information or what distrusted source he or she may not hear, it uses censorship to control thought. This is unlawful. The First Amendment confirms the freedom to think for ourselves.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Anthony Kennedy (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.