The Constitution requires that Congress treat similarly situated persons similarly, not that it engages in gestures of superficial equality.

If you could say of any one individual that the court as an institution is the length and shadow of that individual, surely it would be John Marshall.

It is always possible for the court to overreach its proper bounds and perhaps declare a lot of laws unconstitutional and frustrate the will of the majority in a way that it ought not be frustrated.

We start with first principles. The Constitution creates a Federal Government of enumerated powers.

At the heart of the First Amendment is the recognition of the fundamental importance of the free flow of ideas and opinions on matters of public interest and concern. The freedom to speak one's mind is not only an aspect of individual liberty - and thus a good unto itself - but also is essential to the common quest for truth and the vitality of society as a whole. We have therefore been particularly vigilant to ensure that individual expressions of ideas remain free from governmentally imposed sanctions.

Somewhere "out there," beyond the walls of the courthouse, run currents and tides of public opinion which lap at the courtroom door.

The "wall of separation between church and State" is a metaphor based on bad history.