Whether To The Average Person, Applying Contemporary

The Constitution Was Framed Fundamentally As A Bulwark Against Governmental Power, And Preventing The Arbitrary Administration Of Punishment Is A Basic Ideal Of Any Society That Purports To Be Governed By The Rule Of Law.

If The Right To Privacy Means Anything, It Is The Right Of The Individual, Married Or Single, To Be Free From Unwarranted Governmental Intrusion.

We Current Justices Read The Constitution In The Only Way That We Can: As Twentieth Century Americans. 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. For The Genius Of The Constitution Rests Not In Any Static Meaning It Might Have Had In A World That Is Dead And Gone, But In The Adaptability Of Its Great Principles To Cope With Current Problems And Current Needs.

The Door Of The Free Exercise Clause Stands Tightly Closed Against Any Government Regulation Of Religious Beliefs As Such. Government May Neither Compel Affirmation Of A Repugnant Belief, Nor Penalize Or Discriminate Against Individuals Or Groups Because They Hold Views Abhorrent To The Authorities.

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.