Keith Ellison Quotes

The right to free speech is critical to our democracy.

The same Constitution that allows her the right, if she wants to, to sit there and say nothing, allows these groups the right to petition their government for redress.

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

I want to regain my First Amendment rights.

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 a crusader. I really believe in the First Amendment, and I use it fully, and I pay a price for that.

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

The FBI holds sacred the rights of individuals to peacefully exercise their First Amendment freedoms.

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

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

Republican Michigan Congressman Justin Amash said, no president is allowed to burn the first amendment.

Freedom of speech, the right to dissent, the right to protest, that is what America is about. And politically every leader in this country and every American has got to stand up against any form of violence. That is unacceptable.

I've always been a big supporter of the Constitutional right of the people to peaceably assemble and petition government for redress of grievances. It's just that I never envisioned it taking the form of thousands of people screaming 'you asshole!' at me.

The right of the people to peacefully assemble and petition their government for a redress of grievances is now worth a pitcher of warm spit. That's because TV will not come and treat it respectfully. Television is really something.

You know why there's a Second Amendment? In case the government fails to follow the first one.

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

I try to do that in this book without preaching - to try to do as you just said that you really have to defend the First Amendment rights of everybody.

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.

Any time someone carries a picket sign in front of the White House, that is the First Amendment in action.

No one respects the First Amendment more than I do. People have a right to express their concerns and their hopes and dreams to their government.

I believe that freedom of speech and freedom of religion go hand-in-hand in America.

One who comes to the Court must come to adore, not to protest. That's the new gloss on the 1st Amendment.

Chinese citizens have never had the right to really express their opinions; in the constitution it says you can, but in the real world it is more dangerous. In the west people think it's a right they're born with. Here it's a right given by the government, and one that's not really practised.

In 70s America, protest used to be very effective, but in subsequent decades municipalities have sneakily created a web of 'overpermiticisation' - requirements that were designed to stifle freedom of assembly and the right to petition government for redress of grievances, both of which are part of our first amendment.

We had a responsibility to represent all people whose 1st Amendment rights were at risk