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It is one thing to believe in civil liberty and another thing to practice it in all the daily relationships of man to man. And I am afraid the facts are that some of us have been for civil liberty in theory but not very careful about practicing it in our daily lives.

— Frank Murphy The Meaning of Civil Liberty (1939)

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More quotes by Frank Murphy

The law knows no finer hour than when it cuts through formal concepts and transitory emotions to protect unpopular citizens against discrimination and persecution.

Falbo v. United States (1944)

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.

Korematsu v. United States (1944)

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.

Falbo v. United States (1944)

Liberty is too priceless to be forfeited through the zeal of an administrative agent.

Criminal punishment for disobedience of an arbitrary and invalid order is objectionable regardless of whether the order be interlocutory or final.

Falbo v. United States (1944)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Frank Murphy (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.