Robert H. Jackson Quotes About Liberty

Quotes about: Liberty

• It is not the function of government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error.

  Robert H. Jackson

  Fall, Errors, Government

  American Communications Ass'n v. Douds (1950)

• Those who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters. Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard.

  Robert H. Jackson

  Liberty, Opinion, Achieve

  West Virginia State Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette (1943)

• The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy. One's right to life, liberty and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly may not be submitted to vote; they depend on no elections.

  Robert H. Jackson

  Rights, Political, Liberty

  "West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624". Judicial opinion, 1943.

• Particularly when the war power is invoked to do things to the liberties of people, or to their property or economy that only indirectly affect conduct of the war and do not relate to the engagement of the war itself, the constitutional basis should be scrutinized with care. ... I would not be willing to hold that war powers may be indefinitely prolonged merely by keeping legally alive a state of war that had in fact ended. I cannot accept the argument that war powers last as long as the effects and consequences of war for if so they are permanent -- as permanent as the war debts.

  Robert H. Jackson

  War, Power, Long

• Freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order.

  Robert H. Jackson

  Freedom, Heart, Order

  West Virginia State Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette (1943)

• One's right to life, liberty, and property depends on the outcome of no election.

  Robert H. Jackson

  Liberty, Outcomes, Election

  West Virginia State Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette (1943)

• The priceless heritage of our society is the unrestricted constitutional right of each member to think as he will. Thought control is a copyright of totalitarianism, and we have no claim to it.

  Robert H. Jackson

  Thinking, Liberty, Heritage

  American Communications Ass'n v. Douds (1950)

• There is no such thing as an achieved liberty: like electricity, there can be no substantial storage and it must be generated as it is enjoyed, or the lights go out.

  Robert H. Jackson

  Liberty, Electricity, Storage

  "The Task of Maintaining Our Liberties: The Role of the Judiciary". American Bar Association Journal, Volume 39, No. 11, p. 962, www.jstor.org. November 1953.

• We can afford no liberties with liberty itself.

  Robert H. Jackson

  Liberty

  "United States v. Spector, 343 US 169, 180". Ddissenting opinion, 1952.

• Any court which undertakes by its legal processes to enforce civil liberties needs the support of an enlightened and vigorous public opinion which will be intelligent and discriminating as to what cases really are civil liberties cases and what questions really are involved in those cases.

  Robert H. Jackson

  Intelligent, Support, Liberty

• Not every defeat of authority is a gain for individual freedom, nor every judicial rescue of a convict a victory for liberty.

  Robert H. Jackson

  Victory, Liberty, Gains

  "The Task of Maintaining Our Liberties: The Role of the Judiciary". American Bar Association Journal, Volume 39, No. 11, p. 964, www.jstor.org. November 1953.

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