Skip to content
Shawords

Quote#Speech

Believing in the power of reason as applied through public…

Quote byLouis Brandeis · 1856–1941

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Judicial opinions, Concurring, Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357, 375 (1927), at 375-376. In this case, in which the Court upheld a California anti-Communist statute, Brandeis, writing in a concurrence joined by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., concurred in the judgment but not in the reasoning.

English (original)

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 governing majorities, they amended the Constitution so that free speech and assembly should be guaranteed.

— Louis Brandeis

More from Louis Brandeis