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 โpersonhoodโ often serves as a useful legal fiction. But they are not themselves members of โWe the Peopleโ by whom and for whom our Constitution was established.
John Paul StevensEvery individual who participated in the redistricting process knew that incumbency protection was a critical factor in producing the bizarre lines. ... Many of the oddest twists and turns of the Texas districts would never have been created if the Legislature had not been so intent on protecting party and incumbents.
John Paul StevensIt 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 โpersonhoodโ often serves as a useful legal fiction. But they are not themselves members of โWe the Peopleโ by whom and for whom our Constitution was established.
John Paul StevensWhen the commission finds that a pig has entered the parlor, the exercise of its regulatory power does not depend on proof the pig is obscene.
John Paul StevensAs a matter of constitutional tradition, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, we presume that governmental regulation of the content of speech is more likely to interfere with the free exchange of ideas than to encourage it. The interest in encouraging freedom of expression in a democratic society outweighs any theoretical but unproven benefit of censorship.
John Paul Stevens