The quest for freedom, dignity, and the rights of man will never end.

With respect to the death penalty, I believe that a majority of the Supreme Court will one day accept that when the state punishes with death, it denies the humanity and dignity of the victim and transgresses the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. That day will be a great day for our country, for it will be a great day for our Constitution.

If our free society is to endure, those who govern must recognize human dignity and accept the enforcement of constitutional limitations on their power conceived by the Framers . . . . Such recognition will not come from a technical understanding of the organs of government, or the new forms of wealth they administer. It requires something different, something deeper-a personal confrontation with the wellsprings of our society.

Capital punishment...treats members of the human race...as objects to be toyed with and discarded.

The law is not an end in itself, nor does it provide ends. It is preeminently a means to serve what we think is right.

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

Debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust and wide-open and that...may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.