WHITNEY V. CALIFORNIA (47 S CT 641)

JUSTICE BRANDEIS WRITING

THOSE WHO WON OUR INDEPENDENCE BELIEVED THAT THE FINAL END OF THE STATE WAS TO MAKE MEN FREE TO DEVELOP THEIR FACULTIES; AND THAT IN ITS GOVERNMENT THE DELIBERATIVE FORCES SHOULD PREVAIL OVER THE ARBITRARY, THEY VALUED LIBERTY BOTH AS AN END AND AS A MEANS. THEY BELIEVED LIBERTY TO BE THE SECRET OF HAPPINESS AND COURAGE TO BE THE SECRET OF LIBERTY. THEY BELIEVED THAT FREEDOM TO THINK AS YOU WILL AND TO SPEAK AS YOU THINK ARE MEANS INDISPENSABLE TO THE DISCOVERY AND SPREAD OF POLITICAL TRUTH; THAT WITHOUT FREE SPEECH AND ASSEMBLY, DISCUSSION WOULD BE FUTILE; THAT WITH THEM, DISCUSSION AFFORDS ORDINARILY ADEQUATE PROTECTION AGAINST THE DISSEMINATION OF NOXIOUS DOCTRINE; THAT THE GREATEST MENACE TO FREEDOM IS AN INERT PEOPLE; THAT PUBLIC DISCUSSION IS A POLITICAL DUTY; AND THAT THIS SHOULD BE A FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPAL OF THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT.

THEY RECOGNIZED THE RISK TO WHICH ALL HUMAN INSTITUTIONS ARE SUBJECT. BUT THEY KNEW THAT ORDER CANNOT BE SECURED MERELY THROUGH FEAR ! OF PUNISHMENT FOR ITS INFRACTION; THAT IT IS HAZARDS TO DISCOURAGE THOUGHT, HOPE AND IMAGINATION, THAT FEAR BREADS REPRESSION, THAT REPRESSION BREEDS HATE, THAT HATE MENACES STABLE GOVERNMENT; THAT THE PATH TO SAFETY LIES IN THE OPPORTUNITY TO DISCUSS FREELY SUPPOSED GRIEVANCES AND PROPOSED REMEDIES; AND THAT THE FITTING REMEDY FOR EVIL COUNSELS IS GOOD ONES, BELIEVING IN THE POWER OF REASON AS APPLIED THROUGH PUBLIC DISCUSSION, THEY ESCHEWED SILENCE COERCED BY LAW ---- THE ARGUMENT OF FORCE IN ITS WORST FORM. RECOGNIZING THE OCCASIONAL TYRANNIES OF GOVERNMENT MAJORITIES, THEY AMENDED THE CONSTITUTION SO THAT FREE SPEECH AND ASSEMBLY SHOULD BE GUARANTEED.

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