William O. Douglas: Right

William O. Douglas was Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Explore interesting quotes on right.
William O. Douglas: 104   quotes 0   likes

“When a legislature undertakes to proscribe the exercise of a citizen's constitutional right to free speech, it acts lawlessly; and the citizen can take matters in his own hands and proceed on the basis that such a law is no law at all.”

William O. Douglas

Dissenting, Poulos v. New Hampshire, 345 U.S. 395 (1953)
Judicial opinions

Law , Exercises

“The right to revolt has sources deep in our history.”

William O. Douglas

An Almanac of Liberty (1954), p. 107
Other speeches and writings

History

“No matter what the legislature may say, a man has the right to make his speech, print his handbill, compose his newspaper, and deliver his sermon without asking anyone's permission. The contrary suggestion is abhorrent to our traditions.”

William O. Douglas

Dissenting, Poulos v. New Hampshire, 345 U.S. 395 (1953)
Judicial opinions

“The critical point is that the Constitution places the right of silence beyond the reach of government.”

William O. Douglas

Dissenting, Ullmann v. United States, 350 U.S. 422 (1956)
Judicial opinions

Silence

“The right to dissent is the only thing that makes life tolerable for a judge of an appellate court… the affairs of government could not be conducted by democratic standards without it.”

William O. Douglas

America Challenged (1960)
Other speeches and writings

Life

“The right to be let alone is indeed the beginning of all freedom.”

William O. Douglas

Dissenting, Public utilities Commission v. Pollak, 343 U.S. 451, 467 (1952)
Judicial opinions

Freedom

“For there is no constitutional right for any race to be preferred… If discrimination based on race is constitutionally permissible when those who hold the reins can come up with "compelling" reasons to justify it, then constitutional guarantees acquire an accordion-like quality.”

William O. Douglas

Dissenting, DeFunis v. Odegaard, 416 U.S. 312 (1974)
Judicial opinions

“The law is not a series of calculating machines where answers come tumbling out when the right levers are pushed.”

William O. Douglas

"The Dissent: A Safeguard of Democracy," 32 Journal of the American Judicial Society 104, 105 (1948).
Other speeches and writings

Law

“The struggle is always between the individual and his sacred right to express himself and the power structure that seeks conformity, suppression, and obedience.”

William O. Douglas

Go East, Young Man: The Autobiography of William O. Douglas (1974), p. 449
Other speeches and writings

“We deal with a right of privacy older than the Bill of Rights -- older than our political parties, older than our school system. Marriage is a coming together for better or for worse, hopefully enduring, and intimate to the degree of being sacred. It is an association that promotes a way of life, not causes; a harmony in living, not political faiths; a bilateral loyalty, not commercial or social projects. Yet it is an association for as noble a purpose as any involved in our prior decisions.”

William O. Douglas

Writing for the court, Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 486 (1965)
Judicial opinions

Life , Marriage , School , Faith