The graphic emphasis placed on those first lines is rather hard to square with the proposition that the monument expresses no particular religious preference.
John Paul StevensThe level of discourse reaching a mailbox simply cannot be limited to that which would be suitable for a sandbox.
John Paul StevensWhenever we remove a brick from the wall that was designed to separate religion and government, we increase the risk of religious strife and weaken the foundation of our democracy.
John Paul StevensAt bottom, the Court's opinion is thus a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self-government since the founding, and who have fought against the distinctive corrupting potential of corporate electioneering since the days of Theodore Roosevelt. It is a strange time to repudiate that common sense. While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics.
John Paul Stevens