Hugo Black Quotes

When I began we did not really have a lot of First Amendment law. It is really surprising to think of it this way, but a lot of the law - most of the law that relates to the First Amendment freedom of the press in America - is really within living memory.

The Constitution does not allow the unnecessary trammeling of free expression, even for the noblest of purposes.

Under the privilege of the 1st Amendment many, many ridiculous things are said.

The First Amendment is often inconvenient. But that is beside the point. Inconvenience does not absolve the government of its obligation to tolerate speech.

In the U.S., free speech and the press are protected by the First Amendment. It has a clarity unmatched by modern legislators and declares that 'Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or the press.'

The First Amendment, I think, is the jewel of our Constitution.

I would bet there is no place in the United States where the First Amendment would survive intact.

You watch the Supreme Court in action on these cases, and they are a conflicted court. However, when it comes to speech issues generally, the court has been protective.

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.

I'm not interested in censorship. I like the First Amendment very much.

I think that, as Americans, we should never forget that when we tamper with freedom of speech, it is a very sensitive issue that affects all of our constitutional rights and privileges.

An unconditional right to say what one pleases about public affairs is what I consider to be the minimum guarantee of the 1st Amendment.

Implicit in the history of the 1st Amendment is the rejection of obscenity as utterly without redeeming social importance.

We don't have the right under the 1st Amendment to act as the national program director.

If you care for the quality of life in our American democracy, then you have to be for censorship.

There is no security in the profered system, either for the rights of conscience or the liberty of the Press.

As a young constitutional lawyer, I was put to the first amendment test when I was called on to defend racists and neo-Nazis. I really had no choice. Surely now we know that none of us do. Free speech is unequivocal, unpolitical, and indivisible.

If the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech and press is to mean anything, it must allow protests even against the moral code that the standard of the day sets for the community.

We have the First Amendment to rely on whenever an elected official tries to impinge on our rights to speak.

Enshrined in the Philippine constitution, which is similar to the United States, is the bill of rights: freedom of expression, freedom of the press. These are enshrined. And yet, freedom of the press has been curtailed.

I believe in the First Amendment.

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

That's in the First Amendment?

The First Amendment...begins with the five loveliest words in the English language: 'Congress shall make no law'.

Nothing's riding on this, except the First Amendment to the Constitution, freedom of the press and maybe the future of the country. Not that any of that matters, but if you guys f-k up again, I'm gonna get mad.