William J. Brennan Jr. Quotes

If a jerk burns the flag, America is not threatened, democracy is not under siege, freedom is not at risk.

The way to preserve the flag's special role is not to punish those who feel differently about these matters. It is to persuade them that they are wrong.... Our decision is a reaffirmation of the principles of freedom and inclusiveness that the flag best reflects, and of the conviction that our toleration of such criticism [flag-burning] is a sign and source of our strength.

A flag burning Constitutional amendment would rip the fabric of the Constitution at its very center.

Punishing desecration of the flag dilutes the very freedom that makes this emblem so revered.

The Supreme Court decision [Texas v. Johnson, 1989] does not in any way indicate the government is backing off from forcing the flag on people. They just don't want to look too dictatorial in the way they do it.

Offensive or not, those who burn the flag to express their views are exercising a right that our founding generation fought a revolution to secure.

Standing up for what you believe in, to me, is freedom of speech. And that's a right that every American citizen has and what makes this country great.

We can imagine no more appropriate response to burning a flag than to waving one's own, no better way to counter a flag-burner's message than by saluting the flag that burns, no surer means of preserving the dignity even of the flag that burned than by, as one witness here did, according its remains a respectful burial.

Who personally has ever witnessed a flag burning?

It is an unmistakable statement of contempt for a government to burn its flag.

Burning the American flag should be punishable by loss of citizenship.

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.

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

I prefer a man who will burn the flag and then wrap himself in the Constitution to a man who will burn the Constitution and then wrap himself in the flag.

I don’t like to see our flag torn down and trampled upon anywhere in the world and I think most Americans agree with me on that. I don’t like to see American citizens pushed around and there’s no good reason for letting it happen

There is no indication - either in the text of the Constitution or in our cases interpreting it - that a separate judicial category exists for the American flag alone. ... We decline ... therefore to create for the flag an exception to the … principles protected by the First Amendment.

To me, the flag represents the greatest ideals of the United States of America, not the worst, but different people look at different things and have different feelings about it. That's what freedom of expression is all about.

I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag.

Burn my Flag and I will shoot you........but I'll shoot you with a lot of love, like a good American

Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag -if they do, they must be consequences -perhaps loss of citizenship or year in a jail.

The First Amendment means everything to me.

Freedom of speech is, to all Americans, as oxygen is to the human condition. It is a right that has been irreversibly programmed into our hard drive. We are free to speak our minds. An artist's right to express him or herself as best suits their art, is the artist's prerogative and it is guaranteed.

The Democratic Party will never desert the freedoms of our people under the guise of pretending to protect them.

And a democracy can't exist without free speech and the right to assemble. And that's what Americans tend to forget. And they're born into a culture where they take all of their freedoms for granted.

As long as I am an American citizen, and as long as American blood runs in these veins, I shall hold myself at liberty to speak, to write, and to publish whatever I please on any subject, being amenable to the laws of my country for the same.