The Quest For Freedom, Dignity, And The

Death Is Not Only An Unusually Severe Punishment, Unusual In Its Pain, In Its Finality And In Its Enormity, But Is Serves No Penal Purpose More Effectively Than A Less Severe Punishment.

No Doubt, There Are Those Who Believe That Judges - And Particularly Dissenting Judges - Write To Hear Themselves Say, As It Were, 'i, I, I.' And No Doubt, There Are Also Those Who Believe That Judges Are, Like Joan Didion, Primarily Engaged In The Writing Of Fiction. I Cannot Agree With Either Of Those Propositions.

If We Are To Be As A Shining City Upon A Hill, It Will Be Because Of Our Ceaseless Pursuit Of The Constitutional Ideal Of Human Dignity.

While The Machinery Of Law Enforcement And Indeed The Nature Of Crime Itself Have Changed Dramatically Since The Fourth Amendment Became Part Of The Nation's Fundamental Law In 1791, What The Framers Understood Then Remains True Today - That The Task Of Combating Crime And Convicting The Guilty Will In Every Era Seem Of Such Critical And Pressing Concern That We May Be Lured By The Temptations Of Expediency Into Forsaking Our Commitment To Protecting Individual Liberty And Privacy.

If There Is A Bedrock Principle Underlying The First Amendment, It Is That The Government May Not Prohibit The Expression Of An Idea Simply Because Society Finds The Idea Itself Offensive Or Disagreeable.