William J. Brennan Quotes - Page 3

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• Consequences flow from a justice's interpretation in a direct and immediate way. A judicial decision respecting the incompatibility of Jim Crow with a constitutional guarantee of equality is not simply a contemplative exercise in defining the shape of a just society. It is an order

  William J. Brennan

  Exercise, Order, Justice

  5 Copy quote

• Whether to the average person, applying contemporary community standards, the dominant theme of the material taken as a whole appeals to prurient interest.

  William J. Brennan

  Taken, Average, Law

  Roth v. United States (1957)

  4 Copy quote

• More fundamentally, however, the answer to petitioners' objection is that there can be no impairment of executive power, whether on the state or federal level, where actions pursuant to that power are impermissible under the Constitution. Where there is no power, there can be no impairment of power.

  William J. Brennan

  Executive Power, Answers, Levels

  "Elrod v. Burns, 427 U.S. 347, 353". Writing for the court, 1976.

  5 Copy quote

• The Bill of Rights never gets off the page and into the lives of most Americans.

  William J. Brennan

  Rights, Pages, Bills

  5 Copy quote

• The modern public school derived from a philosophy of freedom reflected in the First Amendment ... The non-sectarian or secular public school was the means of reconciling freedom in general with religious freedom.

  William J. Brennan

  Religious, Philosophy, School

  4 Copy quote

• Our statute books gradually became laden with gross, stereotyped distinctions between the sexes and, indeed, throughout much of the 19th century the position of women in our society was, in many respects, comparable to that of blacks under the pre-Civil War slave codes.

  William J. Brennan

  Sex, War, Book

  4 Copy quote

• The public schools are supported entirely, in most communities, by public funds-funds exacted not only from parents, nor alone from those who hold particular religious views, nor indeed from those who subscribe to any creed at all.

  William J. Brennan

  Religious, School, Views

  4 Copy quote

• With respect to the death penalty, I believe that a majority of the Supreme Court will one day accept that when the state punishes with death, it denies the humanity and dignity of the victim and transgresses the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. That day will be a great day for our country, for it will be a great day for our Constitution.

  William J. Brennan

  Country, Believe, Punishment

  5 Copy quote

• Use of a mentally ill person's involuntary confession is antithetical to the notion of fundamental fairness embodied in the due process clause.

  William J. Brennan

  Fundamentals, Use, Fairness

  19 Copy quote

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