Portal:Journalism/Selected quote/24

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Stephen Breyer
Traditional modern liberty — the individual's freedom from government restriction — remains important. Individuals need information freely to make decisions about their own lives. And, irrespective of context, a particular rule affecting speech might, in a particular instance, require individuals to act against conscience, inhibit public debate, threaten artistic expression, censor views in ways unrelated to a program's basic objectives, or create other risks of abuse. These possibilities themselves form the raw material out of which courts will create different presumptions applicable in different speech contexts. And even in the absence of presumptions, courts will examine individual instances with the possibilities of such harms in mind.

Source[edit]

  • Breyer, Stephen. Active Liberty: Interpreting Our Democratic Constitution. Alfred A. Knopf. p. 54. ISBN 0-307-26313-4. OCLC 59280151.