“The First Amendment rests on the assumption that the widest possible dissemination of information from diverse and antagonistic sources is essential to the welfare of the public, that a free press is a condition of a free society.” In other words, a free press is the sine qua non of the entire American Constitution and republican experiment.”
Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, 1945
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Shirley Freeman // July 2, 2009 at 7:44 am |
In light of Justice Black’s insight above into what makes our democracy work, we would urge President Obama to welcome rather than seek to minimize critical analyses and evaluations of his Administration’s policies and activies. Winston Churchill spoke to the same issue: “…civilization implies, in any society, the freedom to criticize the government of the day; free speech; free press; free thought; free religious observance; no racial persecution; fair treatment of minorities; and courts of law and justice which have an authority independent of the executive and untainted by Party bias.” (BLOOD, SWEAT, AND TEARS, Churchill, W. (1941) G. P. Putnam’s Sons, NY, p. 139.