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I am for the First Amendment from the first word to the last. I believe it means what it says.

Hugo Black

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Hugo Black
Age: 85 †
Born: 1886
Born: February 27
Died: 1971
Died: September 25
Former Associate Justice Of The Supreme Court Of The United States
Judge
Lawyer
Military Personnel
Politician
Ashland
Alabama
Hugo Lafayette Black
Firsts
Says
First
Liberty
Mean
Belief
Believe
Word
Lasts
Last
Means
Amendment
Government
Amendments

More quotes by Hugo Black

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The Court stands against any winds that blow as havens of refuge for those who might otherwise suffer because they are helpless, weak, outnumbered, or because they are nonconforming victims of prejudice or public excitement.
Hugo Black
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Criticism of government finds sanctuary in several portions of the 1st Amendment. It is part of the right of free speech. It embraces freedom of the press
Hugo Black
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An unconditional right to say what one pleases about public affairs is what I consider to be the minimum guarantee of the First Amendment.
Hugo Black
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That Amendment requires the state to be a neutral in its relations with groups of religious believers and nonbelievers it does not require the state to be their adversary. State power is no more to be used so as to handicap religions than it is to favor them.
Hugo Black
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Our Constitution was not written in the sands to be washed away by each wave of new judges blown in by each successive political wind.
Hugo Black
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No person can be punished for entertaining or professing religious beliefs or disbeliefs, for church attendance or non-attendance.
Hugo Black
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In revealing the workings of government that led to the Vietnam War, the newspapers nobly did precisely that which the Founders hoped and trusted they would do.
Hugo Black
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[I]t is true that [the provisions of the Bill of Rights] were designed to meet ancient evils. But they are the same kind of human evils that have emerged from century to century whenever excessive power is sought by the few at the expense of the many.
Hugo Black
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The United States has a system of taxation by confession
Hugo Black
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The very first condition of lasting happiness is that a life should be full of purpose, aiming at something outside self.
Hugo Black
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The press was to serve the governed, not the governors.
Hugo Black
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Laws are made to protect the trusting as well as the suspicious
Hugo Black
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The word 'security' is a broad, vague generality whose contours should not be invoked to abrogate the fundamental law embodied in the First Amendment. The guarding of military and diplomatic secrets at the expense of informed representative government provides no real security.
Hugo Black
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No higher duty, or more solemn responsibility, rests upon this Court than that of translating into living law and maintaining this constitutional shield deliberately planned and inscribed for the benefit of every human being subject to our Constitution - of whatever race, creed or persuasion.
Hugo Black
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Freedom of speech means that you shall not do something to people either for the views they have, or the views they express, or the words they speak or write.
Hugo Black
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I cannot agree with those who think of the Bill of Rights as an 18th century straitjacket, unsuited for this age...The evils it guards against are not only old, they are with us now, they exist today.
Hugo Black
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The Establishment Clause stands as an expression of principle on the part of the Founders of our Constitution that religion is too personal, too sacred, too holy, to permit its 'unhallowed perversion' by a civil magistrate.
Hugo Black
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The layman's constitutional view is that what he likes is constitutional and that which he doesn't like is unconstitutional.
Hugo Black
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Among religions in this country which do not teach what would generally be considered a belief in the existence of God are Buddhism, Taoism, Ethical Culture, Secular Humanism and others.
Hugo Black
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No tax in any amount, large or small, can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions, whatever they may be called, or whatever form they may adopt to teach or practice religion.
Hugo Black