Constitution Quotes - Page 27

• Approving some religious claims while deeming others unworthy of accommodation could be 'perceived as favoring one religion over another,' the very 'risk the [Constitution's] Establishment Clause was designed to preclude.

  Ruth Bader Ginsburg

  Religious, Risk, Establishment Clause

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• A constitution, as important as it is, will mean nothing unless the people are yearning for liberty and freedom.

  Ruth Bader Ginsburg

  Mean, People, Important

  "Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Talks Constitution, Women And Liberty On Egyptian TV" By Mike Sacks, www.huffingtonpost.com. February 1, 2012.

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• The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to speak openly and candidly on the subject of race, and to apply the Constitution with eyes open to the unfortunate effects of centuries of racial discrimination.

  Sonia Sotomayor

  Eye, Race, Way

  "Opinion: Sonia Sotomayor's Dissent On Affirmative Action Will Bear Test Of Time" by Raul A. Reyes, www.foxnews.com. April 29, 2014.

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• It might be added that corporations have no consciences, no beliefs, no feelings, no thoughts, no desires. Corporations help structure and facilitate the activities of human beings, to be sure, and their ‘personhood’ often serves as a useful legal fiction. But they are not themselves members of ‘We the People’ by whom and for whom our Constitution was established.

  John Paul Stevens

  People, Feelings, Desire

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• Do you believe today that the right to privacy does exist in the Constitution?

  Arlen Specter

  Believe, Doe, Today

  "Roberts Grilled on Key Abortion Ruling". "Day to Day" with Madeleine Brand, www.npr.org. September 13, 2005.

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• Of the Logos which is as I describe it men always prove to be uncomprehending, both before they have heard it and when once they have heard it. For although all things happen according to this Logos, they [men] are like people of no experience, even when they experience such words and deeds as I explain, when I distinguish each thing according to its constitution and declare how it is; but the rest of men fail to notice what they do after they wake up just as they forget what they do when asleep.

  Heraclitus

  Men, People, Wake Up

  "Heraclitus: The Cosmic Fragments".

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• Where in the Constitution is the separation of church and state?

  Christine O'Donnell

  Church, Separation, States

  "Media Twist O’Donnell-Coons Exchange on Church and State". "The Rush Limbaugh Show", www.rushlimbaugh.com. October 19, 2010.

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• I have allowed the president to pick his political appointees…But I will not sit quietly and let him shred the Constitution.

  Rand Paul

  Political, President, Filibuster

  "Famous Filibusters Throughout History". "Talk of the Nation" with Lynn Neary and Ken Rudin, www.npr.org. March 7, 2013.

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• The most extravagant idea that can be born in the head of a political thinker is to believe that it suffices for people to enter, weapons in hand, among a foreign people and expect to have its laws and constitution embraced. No one loves armed missionaries; the first lesson of nature and prudence is to repulse them as enemies.

  Maximilien Robespierre

  Believe, Hands, Law

  "Sur la guerre". Speech to the Jacobin Club, January 02, 1792.

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• All the people constitute the militia - according to the Founding Fathers. Therefore every able-bodied man has a duty under the Constitution to become part of the "well-regulated" militia, specifically to understand and perform well with the individual weapon currently issued to the regular establishment. . . . Thus one who has not qualified himself with the M-16 may not be considered to be a responsible citizen.

  Jeff Cooper

  Father, Men, Gun

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• Without the Constitution and the Union, we could not have attained the result; but even these, are not the primary cause of our great prosperity. There is something back of these, entwining itself more closely about the human heart. That something, is the principle of "Liberty to all" the principle that clears the path for all-gives hope to all-and, by consequence, enterprize [sic], and industry to all.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Dream, Heart, Giving

  Abraham Lincoln, G. S. Boritt (2004). “Lincoln on Democracy”, p.188, Fordham Univ Press

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• Every constitution written since the end of World War II includes a provision that men and women are citizens of equal stature. Ours does not.

  Ruth Bader Ginsburg

  War, Women, Doe

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• For states' rights advocates, the Constitution is like a contract that is openly violated by one party with impunity. On paper, the states remain sovereign powers, while in reality the federal government appears able to dictate everything from the ingredients of school lunches to speed limits. Congress now routinely collects taxes in order to return the money to the states with conditions on their conforming to federal demands.

  Jonathan Turley

  Party, School, Reality

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• The very purpose of a bill of rights is to withdraw certain subjects from...political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities.

  Robert H. Jackson

  Rights, Political, Majority

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• 

  The purpose of the Constitution is to restrict the majority's ability to harm a minority.

  James Madison

  Majority, Minorities, Purpose

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• We are approaching a time when Christians, especially, may have to declare the social contract between Enlightenment rationalists and Biblical believers - which formed the basis of the constitution written at our nation's founding - null and void.

  Cal Thomas

  Christian, Biblical, Enlightenment

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• We're going to protect and honor the Constitution, and I don't have the authority to set it aside.... If I had the authority to set it aside, this would be a dangerous government, and I wouldn't respect it.

  John Ashcroft

  Government, Scary, Honor

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• The principles of the United States Constitution are, because of Senator Byrd, still the heartbeat of the US Senate.

  David C. Hardesty, Jr.

  Heart, Scary, Principles

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• This case is not about whether marriages between same-sex couples are consistent or inconsistent with the teachings of a particular religion, whether such marriages are moral or immoral or whether they are something that should be encouraged or discouraged.... Quite simply, this case is about liberty and equality, the two cornerstones of the rights protected by the United States Constitution.

  Barbara Brandriff Crabb

  Sex, Couple, Teaching

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• Although the governor strongly disagrees with the court substituting its judgment for the constitutional process of the elected branches or a vote of the people, the court has now spoken clearly as to their view of the New Jersey Constitution, and, therefore, same-sex marriage is the law.

  Chris Christie

  Sex, Gay, Views

  "Christie withdraws same-sex marriage challenge, as NJ recognizes unions". www.foxnews.com. October 21, 2013.

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• The lower animals, on the other hand, must have their bodily structure modified in order to survive under greatly changed conditions. They must be rendered stronger, or acquire more effective teeth or claws, in order to defend themselves from new enemies; or they must be reduced in size so as to escape detection and danger. When they migrate into a colder climate they must become clothed with thicker fur, or have their constitutions altered. If they fail to be thus modified, they will cease to exist.

  Charles Darwin

  Animal, Hands, Order

  Charles Darwin (1952). “The origin of species by means of natural selection: The descent of man and selection in relation to sex”

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• The deep inequalities that persist are visible reminders of the effects of apartheid and colonialism. Until these scars are healed, the vision of our Constitution will not have been achieved.

  Kate O'Regan

  Vision, Colonialism, Poverty

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• The American Constitution is remarkable for its simplicity; but it can only suffice a people habitually correct in their actions, and would be utterly inadequate to the wants of a different nation. Change the domestic habits of the Americans, their religious devotion, and their high respect for morality, and it will not be necessary to change a single letter in the Constitution in order to vary the whole form of their government.

  Francis Grund

  Religious, Order, Government

  Francis Grund (2007). “Americans”, p.307, Applewood Books

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• The Founding Fathers did not believe the primary purpose of their guns was to hunt ducks, but to keep the government in line within the bounds of the Constitution. The Founding Fathers said that armed citizens are a bulwark against a tyrant in the White House.

  John Coleman

  Father, Believe, Gun

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• Is it not the excess and greed of this and the neglect of all other things that revolutionizes this constitution too and prepares the way for the necessity of a dictatorship?

  Plato

  Greed, Democracy, Excess

  Plato (1963). “The Republic”

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