10 William O. Douglas Quotes on Politics

William O. Douglas quotes on politics

4. Absolute discretion is a ruthless master. It is more destructive of freedom than any of man's other inventions.

9. All executive power - from the reign of ancient kings to the rule of modern dictators - has the outward appearance of efficiency.

12. The critical point is that the Constitution places the right of silence beyond the reach of government.

19. We must realize that today's Establishment is the New George III. Whether it will continue to adhere to his tactics, we do not know. If it does, the redress, honored in tradition, is also revolution.

27. Big Brother in the form of an increasingly powerful government and in an increasingly powerful private sector will pile the records high with reasons why privacy should give way to national security, to law and order, to efficiency of operation, to scientific advancement and the like.

32. It seemed to me that I had barely reached the Court when people were trying to get me off.

36. Tell the FBI that the kidnappers should pick out a judge that Nixon wants back.

38. The Constitution is not neutral. It was designed to take the government off the backs of people.

40. The privacy and dignity of our citizens [are] being whittled away by sometimes imperceptible steps. Taken individually, each step may be of little consequence. But when viewed as a whole, there begins to emerge a society quite unlike any we have seen - a society in which government may intrude into the secret regions of a [person's] life.

44. We do not sit as a superlegislature to weigh the wisdom of legislation.