William Joseph Brennan Jr. Quotes

We look to the history of the time of framing and to the intervening history of interpretation. But the ultimate question must be, what do the words of the text mean in our time.

We current justices read the Constitution in the only way that we can: as 20th-century Americans.

Use of a mentally ill person’s involuntary confession is antithetical to the notion of fundamental fairness embodied in the due process clause.

The Framers of the Bill of Rights did not purport to “create” rights. Rather, they designed the Bill of Rights to prohibit our Government from infringing rights and liberties presumed to be preexisting.