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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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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
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More quotes by 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.
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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.
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The interest of the people lies in being able to join organizations, advocate causes, and make political mistakes without being subjected to governmental penalties.
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Sex is a fact of life...and while it may lead to abuses...no words need be spoken...for people to know that the subject is one pleasantly interwoven in all human activities and involves the very substance of creation itself.
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Citizenship is no light trifle to be jeopardized any moment Congress decides to do so under the name of one of its general or implied grants of power.
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.
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The press was to serve the governed, not the governors.
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Words uttered under coercion are proof of loyalty to nothing but self-interest. Love of country must spring from willing hearts and free minds.
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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.
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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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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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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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The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach.
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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The Press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of the government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people.
Hugo Black
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Loyalty must arise spontaneously from the hearts of people who love their country and respect their government.
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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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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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]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