William J. Brennan Quotes About Liberty

Quotes about: Liberty

• The Framers of the Bill of Rights did not purport to 'create' rights. Rather, they designed the Bill of Rights to prohibit our Government from infringing rights and liberties presumed to be preexisting.

  William J. Brennan

  Freedom, Rights, Government

• After each perceived security crisis ended, the United States has remorsefully realized that the abrogation of civil liberties was unnecessary.

  William J. Brennan

  Political, Liberty, United States

• While the machinery of law enforcement and indeed the nature of crime itself have changed dramatically since the Fourth Amendment became part of the Nation's fundamental law in 1791, what the Framers understood then remains true today - that the task of combating crime and convicting the guilty will in every era seem of such critical and pressing concern that we may be lured by the temptations of expediency into forsaking our commitment to protecting individual liberty and privacy.

  William J. Brennan

  Commitment, Law, Temptation

• The concept of military necessity is seductively broad, and has a dangerous plasticity. Because they invariably have the visage of overriding importance, there is always a temptation to invoke security "necessities" to justify an encroachment upon civil liberties. For that reason, the military-security argument must be approached with a healthy skepticism.

  William J. Brennan

  Military, Temptation, Healthy

• No doubt, there are those who believe that judges - and particularly dissenting judges - write to hear themselves say, as it were, 'I, I, I.' And no doubt, there are also those who believe that judges are, like Joan Didion, primarily engaged in the writing of fiction. I cannot agree with either of those propositions.

  William J. Brennan

  Believe, Writing, Judging

  "In Defense of Dissents, 37 Hastings L. J. 427, 428". 1985-1986.

• The framers knew that liberty is a fragile thing, and so should we.

  William J. Brennan

  Liberty, Fragile Things, Should

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