“The freedom secured by the Constitution consists, in one of its essential dimensions, of the right of the individual not to be injured by the unlawful exercise of governmental power. The mandate for segregated schools, Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U. S. 483 (1954); a wrongful invasion of the home, Silverman v. United States, 365 U. S. 505 (1961); or punishing a protester whose views offend others, Texas v. Johnson, 491 U. S. 397 (1989); and scores of other examples teach that individual liberty has constitutional protection, and that liberty’s full extent and meaning may remain yet to be discovered and affirmed. Yet freedom does not stop with individual rights. Our constitutional system embraces, too, the right of citizens to debate so they can learn and decide and then, through the political process, act in concert to try to shape the course of their own times and the course of a nation that must strive always to make freedom ever greater and more secure. Here Michigan voters acted in concert and statewide to seek consensus and adopt a policy on a difficult subject against a historical background of race in America that has been a source of tragedy and persisting injustice. That history demands that we continue to learn, to listen, and to remain open to new approaches if we are to aspire always to a constitutional order in which all persons are treated with fairness and equal dignity. Were the Court to rule that the question addressed by Michigan voters is too sensitive or complex to be within the grasp of the electorate; or that the policies at issue remain too delicate to be resolved save by university officials or faculties, acting at some remove from immediate public scru-tiny and control; or that these matters are so arcane that the electorate’s power must be limited because the people cannot prudently exercise that power even after a full debate, that holding would be an unprecedented restriction on the exercise of a fundamental right held not just by one person but by all in common. It is the right to speak and debate and learn and then, as a matter of political will, to act through a lawful electoral process.”

Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, 572 U. S. ____, (2016), plurality opinion.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The freedom secured by the Constitution consists, in one of its essential dimensions, of the right of the individual no…" by Anthony Kennedy?
Anthony Kennedy photo
Anthony Kennedy 28
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States 1936

Related quotes

Carl Sagan photo

“Astronomically, the U. S. S. R. and the United States are the same place.”

Source: Cosmos (1980), p. 196

Bono photo
Noam Chomsky photo
Monte Melkonian photo
Chris Murphy photo

“Lewis is a former New York Times columnist and an authority on the U. S. Constitution.”

Anthony Lewis (1927–2013) American journalist

[John F., Hagan, November 22, 2003, Americans being denied rights since 9/11, journalist declares, The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio, B2]
About

“For generation accustomed to thinking of the United States as the world's leading industrial power, something was lost when the U. S, became the world's largest debtor.”

Allen B. Rosenstein (1920–2018) American systems engineers

Allen B. Rosenstein (1989) " Competitiveness and Incoherent National Policy http://www.allenbrosenstein.com/pdf/competitiveness-incoherent.pdf", National Academy of Public Administration, Keynote Speech, 1989.

Hu Jintao photo

Related topics