John Paul Stevens
John Paul Stevens
John Paul Stevensis a retired associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States who served from December 19, 1975 until his retirement on June 29, 2010. At the time of his retirement, he was the oldest Justice then serving, the second-oldest serving Justice in the history of the Court, and the third longest-serving US Supreme Court Justice in history. He was nominated by President Gerald Ford to replace the Court's longest-serving justice, William O. Douglas. Stevens is widely...
ProfessionJudge
Date of Birth14 April 1920
religious wall government
Whenever we remove a brick from the wall that was designed to separate religion and government, we increase the risk of religious strife and weaken the foundation of our democracy.
thinking years numbers
But I really think it's a very unfortunate part of our judicial system and I would feel much, much better if more states would really consider whether they think the benefits outweigh the very serious potential injustice, because in these cases the emotions are very, very high on both sides and to have stakes as high as you do in these cases, there is a special potential for error. We cannot ignore the fact that in recent years a disturbing number of inmates on death row have been exonerated.
tyranny-of-the-majority shields anonymity
Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority.
government neutrality pursue
The government must pursue a course of complete neutrality toward religion.
majority speak individual
Just as the right to speak and the right to refrain from speaking are complementary components of a broader concept of individual freedom, so also the individual's freedom to choose his own creed is the counterpart of his right to refrain from accepting the creed established by the majority.
expression ideas benefits
As a matter of constitutional tradition, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, we presume that governmental regulation of the content of speech is more likely to interfere with the free exchange of ideas than to encourage it. The interest in encouraging freedom of expression in a democratic society outweighs any theoretical but unproven benefit of censorship.
approval execution retribution
Requiring that an execution be relatively painless...actually undermines the very premise on which public approval of the retribution rationale is based.
punishment suffering trends
[B]y requiring that an execution be relatively painless, we necessarily protect the inmate from enduring any punishment that is comparable to the suffering inflicted on his victim. This trend, while appropriate and required by the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, actually undermines the very premise on which public approval of the retribution rationale is based.
team nfl common
Although NFL teams have common interests such as promoting the NFL brand, they are still separate, profit-making entities, and their interests in licensing team trademarks are not necessarily aligned
yankees giving judging
After all, a district judge who gives harsh sentences to Yankees fans and lenient sentences to Red Sox fans would not be acting reasonably even if her procedural rulings were impeccable.
our-love
Our love cannot be measured, it just is.
believe law democracy
A democracy cannot function effectively when its constituent members believe laws are being bought and sold.
would-be levels mailboxes
...the level of discourse reaching a mailbox simply cannot be limited to that which would be suitable for a sandbox.
school views answers
Even in high school, a rule that permits only one point of view to be expressed is less likely to produce correct answers than the open discussion of countervailing views.