Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men’s minds.
THURGOOD MARSHALLIt is now well established that the Constitution protects the right to receive information and ideas.This right to receive information and ideas, regardless of their social worth, is fundamental to our free society.
More Thurgood Marshall Quotes
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To protest against injustice is the foundation of all our American democracy.
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The death penalty is no more effective a deterrent than life imprisonment. It is also evident that the burden of capital punishment falls upon the poor, the ignorant and the underprivileged members of society.
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None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We got here because somebody – a parent, a teacher, an Ivy League crony or a few nuns – bent down and helped us pick up our boots.
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The United States has been called the melting pot of the world. But it seems to me that the colored man either missed getting into the pot or he got melted down.
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Classifications and distinctions based on race or color have no moral or legal validity in our society. They are contrary to our constitution and laws.
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Do what you think is right and let the law catch up.
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The ban directly hampers the partys ability to spread its message and hamstrings voters seeking to inform themselves about the candidates and issues.
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Our Constitution is the envy of the world, as it should be for it is the grand design of the finest nation on earth.
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Ending racial discrimination in jury selection can be accomplished only by eliminating peremptory challenges entirely.
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We can always stick together when we are losing, but tend to find means of breaking up when we’re winning.
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A child born to a Black mother in a state like Mississippi… has exactly the same rights as a white baby born to the wealthiest person in the United States. It’s not true, but I challenge anyone to say it is not a goal worth working for.
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It is now well established that the Constitution protects the right to receive information and ideas.This right to receive information and ideas, regardless of their social worth, is fundamental to our free society.
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The Constitution was a product of its times.
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In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.
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Mere access to the courthouse doors does not by itself assure a proper functioning of the adversary process.
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We must dissent from the fear.
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The process of democracy is one of change. Our laws are not frozen into immutable form, they are constantly in the process of revision in response to the needs of a changing society.
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Some years ago I said in an opinion that if this country is a melting pot, then either the Afro-Americans didn’t get in the pot or he didn’t get melted down.
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None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.
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History teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in times of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure.
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Sometimes history takes things into its own hands.
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The First Amendment serves not only the needs of the polity but also those of the human spirit – a spirit that demands self-expression .
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I’m the world’s original gradualist. I just think ninety-odd years is gradual enough.
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What is the quality of your intent?
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I cannot accept this invitation for I do not believe that the meaning of the Constitution was forever ‘fixed’ at the Philadelphia Convention… To the contrary, the government they devised was defective from the start. [Progressive]
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Truth is more than a mental exercise.
THURGOOD MARSHALL