None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We got here because somebody – a parent, a teacher, an Ivy League crony or a few nuns – bent down and helped us pick up our boots.

Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men’s minds.

What is the quality of your intent?

Surely the fact that a uniformed police officer is wearing his hair below his collar will make him no less identifiable as a policeman.

Today’s Constitution is a realistic document of freedom only because of several corrective amendments. Those amendments speak to a sense of decency and fairness that I and other Blacks cherish.

Mere access to the courthouse doors does not by itself assure a proper functioning of the adversary process.

A child born to a Black mother in a state like Mississippi… has exactly the same rights as a white baby born to the wealthiest person in the United States. It’s not true, but I challenge anyone to say it is not a goal worth working for.