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If there is a bedrock principle of the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.

— William J. Brennan Jr.

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Freedom

More quotes by William J. Brennan Jr.

Sex, a great and mysterious motive force in human life, has indisputably been a subject of absorbing interest to mankind through the ages.

But implicit in the history of the First Amendment is the rejection of obscenity as utterly without redeeming social importance.

Our Nation has had a long and unfortunate history of sex discrimination, rationalized by an attitude of 'romantic paternalism' which, in practical effect, put women, not on a pedestal, but in a cage.

The Constitution was framed fundamentally as a bulwark against governmental power, and preventing the arbitrary administration of punishment is a basic ideal of any society that purports to be governed by the rule of law.

The Nation's future depends upon leaders trained through wide exposure to that robust exchange of ideas which discovers truth "out of a multitude of tongues, [rather] than through any kind of authoritative selection."

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Attribution

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