Anthony Kennedy Quotes

Quotes about:

• At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.

  Anthony Kennedy

  Life, Freedom, Heart

  "Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833". A joint opinion coauthored with Justices Souter and O'Connor, caselaw.findlaw.com. 1992.

  74 Copy quote

• The Constitution doesn't belong to a bunch of judges and lawyers. It belongs to you.

  Anthony Kennedy

  Judging, Constitution, Lawyer

  "The Essential Right to Human Dignity". Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. June 03, 2005.

  44 Copy quote

• The remedy for speech that is false is speech that is true. This is the ordinary course in a free society. The response to the unreasoned is the rational; to the uninformed, the enlightened; to the straight-out lie, the simple truth.

  Anthony Kennedy

  Lying, Simple, Ordinary

  "Justice Kennedy Wants You to Fight Lies with Truth" by Robyn Hagan Cain, blogs.findlaw.com. June 29, 2012.

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• The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and injure those whom the state, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity.

  Anthony Kennedy

  Gay, Law, Overcoming

  "Justice Kennedy: DOMA Had to Go Because It 'Humiliates Tens of Thousands of Children'" by Erik Kain, www.motherjones.com. June 26, 2013.

  55 Copy quote

• The Constitution needs allegiance and loyalty and renewal and understanding with each generation, or else it's not going to last.

  Anthony Kennedy

  Loyalty, Understanding, Needs

  24 Copy quote

• We must never lose sight of the fact that the law has a moral foundation, and we must never fail to ask ourselves not only what the law is, but what the law should be.

  Anthony Kennedy

  Sight, Law, Foundation

  "Man in the Middle" by Richard C. Reuben, California Lawyer: p. 35, October 1992.

  25 Copy quote

• No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were.

  Anthony Kennedy

  Sacrifice, Two, People

  "Read the 7 Most Memorable Passages in the Gay Marriage Decision" by Ryan Teague Beckwith, time.com. June 26, 2015.

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• As the Constitution endures, persons in every generation can invoke its principles in their own search for greater freedom.

  Anthony Kennedy

  Principles, Generations, Constitution

  Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558, caselaw.findlaw.com. June 26, 2003.

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• The case for freedom, the case for our constitutional principles the case for our heritage has to be made anew in each generation. The work of freedom is never done.

  Anthony Kennedy

  Principles, Generations, Heritage

  26 Copy quote

• There are some forty thousand children in California, according to the red brief, that live with same-sex parents, and they want their parents to have full recognition and full status. The voice of those children is important in this case, don't you think?

  Anthony Kennedy

  Sex, Children, Gay

  37 Copy quote

• The fetus, in many cases, dies just as a human adult or child would: It bleeds to death as it is torn from limb from limb. The fetus can be alive at the beginning of the dismemberment process and can survive for a time while its limbs are being torn off.

  Anthony Kennedy

  Children, Adults, Fetus

  United States Supreme Court, Stenberg, Attorney General of Nebraska, et al. v. Carhart, (2000), No. 99-830, caselaw.findlaw.com. June 28, 2000.

  20 Copy quote

• First Amendment freedoms are most in danger when the government seeks to control thought or to justify its laws for that impermissible end. The right to think is the beginning of freedom, and speech must be protected from the government because speech is the beginning of thought.

  Anthony Kennedy

  Thinking, Government, Law

  Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234, 2002.

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

  Anthony Kennedy

  Freedom, Government, Doe

  International Society for Krishna Consciousness v. Lee, 505 U.S. 672, caselaw.lp.findlaw.com. June 26, 1992.

  35 Copy quote

• The Constitution exists precisely so that opinions and judgments, including esthetic and moral judgments about art and literature, can be formed, tested, and expressed. What the Constitution says is that these judgments are for the individual to make, not for the Government to decree, even with the mandate or approval of a majority. Technology expands the capacity to choose; and it denies the potential of this revolution if we assume the Government is best positioned to make these choices for us.

  Anthony Kennedy

  Art, Technology, Government

  25 Copy quote

• Sometimes you don't know if you're Caesar about to cross the Rubicon or Captain Queeg cutting your own tow line.

  Anthony Kennedy

  Cutting, Lines, Captains

  "Wrong on All Counts" by George F. Will, www.washingtonpost.com. March 6, 2005.

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• I do not think that we should select judges based on a particular philosophy as opposed to temperament, commitment to judicial neutrality and commitment to other more constant values as to which there is general consensus.

  Anthony Kennedy

  Philosophy, Commitment, Thinking

  "Justice For Sale (Update)". "Bill Moyers Journal", billmoyers.com. February 19, 2010.

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• The lessons of the First Amendment are as urgent in the modern world as the 18th Century when it was written. One timeless lesson is that if citizens are subjected to state-sponsored religious exercises, the State disavows its own duty to guard and respect that sphere of inviolable conscience and belief which is the mark of a free people.

  Anthony Kennedy

  Religious, Exercise, People

  15 Copy quote

• The Constitution promises liberty to all within its reach, a liberty that includes certain specific rights that allow persons, within a lawful realm, to define and express their identity.

  Anthony Kennedy

  Rights, Gay Marriage, Promise

  Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584, 192 L. Ed. 2d 609, footnote #22, June 26, 2015.

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• There's a time for debate and a time for consensus. There's a time for advocacy and time for first principles.

  Anthony Kennedy

  Principles, Firsts, Debate

  "Justice Kennedy holds court in school" by Terry Frieden, www.cnn.com. January 28, 2002.

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• Democracy is something that you must learn each generation. It has to be taught.

  Anthony Kennedy

  Democracy, Generations, Taught

  14 Copy quote

• The federal sentencing guidelines should be revised downward. By contrast to the guidelines, I can accept neither the necessity nor the wisdom of federal mandatory minimum sentences. In too many cases, mandatory minimum sentences are unwise and unjust.

  Anthony Kennedy

  Unjust, Accepting, Should

  "Rehnquist slams Congress over reducing sentencing discretion" by Bill Mears, www.cnn.com. January 1, 2004.

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• When a juvenile offender commits a heinous crime, the State can exact forfeiture of some of the most basic liberties, but the State cannot extinguish his life and his potential to attain a mature understanding of his own humanity.

  Anthony Kennedy

  Understanding, Humanity, Liberty

  Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551, March 1, 2005.

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• Sometimes it is easy... to enhance your prestige by not exercising your responsibility, but that's not been the tradition of the court.

  Anthony Kennedy

  Responsibility, Exercise, Sometimes

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• Any time you burn a cross in Virginia, it's a crime?

  Anthony Kennedy

  Virginia, Crime, Crosses

  "High court takes up Virginia cross-burning case" by William Mears, www.cnn.com. December 11, 2002.

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• The court decided, based on its reading of our precedents, that the effects test of Lemon is violated whenever government action creates an identification of the state with a religion, or with religion in general, ...or when the effect of the governmental action is to endorse one religion over another, or to endorse religion in general.

  Anthony Kennedy

  Reading, Government, Tests

  8 Copy quote

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