The Concept Of Military Necessity Is Seductively

The Public Schools Are Supported Entirely, In Most Communities, By Public Funds-funds Exacted Not Only From Parents, Nor Alone From Those Who Hold Particular Religious Views, Nor Indeed From Those Who Subscribe To Any Creed At All.

Our Amended Constitution Is The Lodestar For Our Aspirations. Like Every Text Worth Reading, It Is Not Crystalline. The Phrasing Is Broad And The Limitations Of Its Provisions Are Not Clearly Marked. Its Majestic Generalities And Ennobling Pronouncements Are Both Luminous And Obscure. This Ambiguity Of Course Calls Forth Interpretation, The Interaction Of Reader And Text. The Encounter With The Constitutional Text Has Been, In Many Senses, My Life's Work.

The Calculated Killing Of A Human Being By The State Involves, By Its Very Nature, An Absolute Denial Of The Executed Person's Humanity. The Most Vile Murder Does Not, In My View, Release The State From Constitutional Restraint On The Destruction Of Human Dignity.

More Fundamentally, However, The Answer To Petitioners' Objection Is That There Can Be No Impairment Of Executive Power, Whether On The State Or Federal Level, Where Actions Pursuant To That Power Are Impermissible Under The Constitution. Where There Is No Power, There Can Be No Impairment Of Power.

Religious Conflict Can Be The Bloodiest And Cruelest Conflicts That Turn People Into Fanatics.