There is no such thing as a false idea.

Punishing desecration of the flag dilutes the very freedom that makes this emblem so revered.

Use of a mentally ill person's involuntary confession is antithetical to the notion of fundamental fairness embodied in the due process clause.

We hold that the Constitution does not forbid the states minor intrusions into an individual's body under stringently limited conditions.

Religious conflict can be the bloodiest and cruelest conflicts that turn people into fanatics.

We current Justices read the Constitution in the only way that we can: as Twentieth Century Americans. We look to the history of the time of framing and to the intervening history of interpretation. But the ultimate question must be, what do the words of the text mean in our time. For the genius of the Constitution rests not in any static meaning it might have had in a world that is dead and gone, but in the adaptability of its great principles to cope with current problems and current needs.

The principle inherent in the clause that prohibits pointless infliction of excessive punishment when less severe punishment can adequately achieve the same purposes invalidates the punishment.