Mere access to the courthouse doors does not by itself assure a proper functioning of the adversary process.

When in Gregg v. Georgia the Supreme Court gave its seal of approval to capital punishment, this endorsement was premised on the promise that capital punishment would be administered with fairness and justice. Instead, the promise has become a cruel and empty mockery. If not remedied, the scandalous state of our present system of capital punishment will cast a pall of shame over our society for years to come. We cannot let it continue.

If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a state has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his house, what books he may read or what films he may watch.

Truth is more than a mental exercise.

Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds.

I have a lifetime appointment and I intend to serve it. I expect to die at 110, shot by a jealous husband.

A child born to a Black mother in a state like Mississippi... has exactly the same rights as a white baby born to the wealthiest person in the United States. It's not true, but I challenge anyone to say it is not a goal worth working for.