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

Patriotic feelings will surely swell, prompting proud proclamations of the wisdom, foresight, and sense of justice shared by the Framers and reflected in a written document now yellowed with age . . . [F]or many Americans the bicentennial celebration will be little more than a blind pilgrimage to the shrine of the original document now stored in a vault in the National Archives. [Progressive]

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.

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

Some may more quietly commemorate the suffering, struggle, and sacrifice that has triumphed over much of what was wrong with the original document, and observe the anniversary with hopes not realized and promises not fulfilled. I plan to celebrate the bicentennial of the Constitution as a living document, including the Bill of Rights and the other amendments protecting individual freedoms and human rights.

History teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in times of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure.

The measure of a country's greatness is its ability to retain compassion in time of crisis.