Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men’s minds.
THURGOOD MARSHALLThe ban directly hampers the partys ability to spread its message and hamstrings voters seeking to inform themselves about the candidates and issues.
More Thurgood Marshall Quotes
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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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If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a state has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his house, what books he may read or what films he may watch.
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It is a historic step toward eliminating the shameful practice of racial discrimination in the selection of juries.
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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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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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In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.
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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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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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What is the quality of your intent?
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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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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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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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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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Truth is more than a mental exercise.
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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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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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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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A man can make what he wants of himself if he truly believes that he must be ready for hard work and many heartbreaks.
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Surely the fact that a uniformed police officer is wearing his hair below his collar will make him no less identifiable as a policeman.
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Sometimes history takes things into its own hands.
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Equal means getting the same thing, at the same time and in the same place.
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The Constitution was a product of its times.
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Do what you think is right and let the law catch up.
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The measure of a country’s greatness is its ability to retain compassion in time of crisis.
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To protest against injustice is the foundation of all our American democracy.
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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.
THURGOOD MARSHALL