Viet Dinh, Assistant to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft for Legal Policy, U.S. Justice Department:

"Our job here is to defend freedom."

Don Feder, Syndicated Columnist:

"Don't you just hate it when the war on terrorism interferes with political correctness and liberalism's equality fetish?"

Katie Corrigan, Attorney for the ACLU:

"This backdoor national ID would require a massive national database of highly sensitive information available to every [Department of Motor Vehicles] in the country. This would be ineffective in the fight against terrorism and represent a dangerous threat to our freedoms."

Bob Levy, Senior Fellow in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute:

"I think it’s a commentary on how smart the framers were. They didn’t create a country run by polls. There are certain rights, like privacy, that 51 percent of the people can’t take away just because public opinion has shifted in the heat of the moment."  

Sulaiman Al-Hattlan, Saudi journalist and political analyst:

"America now has a moral imperative to remain the same: a land of personal freedom, a place of diversity and a dream for millions of a bright future."

Thomas L. Krannawitter, The Claremont Institute:

"The challenge we face today is ignorance regarding the conditions of freedom, and all that is required to preserve freedom from threats both foreign and domestic. The elite opinion in America -- from the most distinguished professors in our most distinguished universities, to political intellectuals and pundits, to those in the media and Hollywood -- would counsel us to talk with our enemies rather than killing them."

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani:

"Although I have to leave you as mayor soon, I resume the much more honorable title of citizen of New York, and citizen of the United States."

Tate Preston, vice president at Datacard Group:

"In the 19^th century, it was sufficient to ask who you are. In the 20^th century, it was sufficient to show who you are. In the 21^st century you will have to prove who you are."

Ted Olson, United States Solicitor General:

"These individuals are tyrants, and so they hate democracy. They are bigots, zealots, and persecutors, and so they hate America’s freedom tolerance, and respect for all people. The terrorists of Sept. 11 live and flourish in darkness. They cannot survive in the liberating and inspirational sunlight of American freedom and democracy."

George W. Bush, President of the United States:

"Our enemies have made the mistake that America’s enemies always make. They saw liberty and thought they saw weakness. And now, they see defeat."

Representative Barney Frank (D — Massachusetts):

"The rights of the people who have done terrible things are hard to defend. You have to keep pointing out, the question is the process to determine whether they’ve done the terrible things."

United States Attorney General John Ashcroft:

"To those who pit Americans against immigrants and citizens against noncitizens, to those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: Your tactics only aid terrorists for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve."

United States Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist:

"In any civilized society the most important task is achieving a proper balance between freedom and order. In wartime, reason and history both suggest that this balance shifts in favor… of the government’s ability to deal with conditions that threaten the national well-being."

Alexander Hamilton, writing on national security powers in Federalist No. 23:

"These powers ought to exist without limitation… The circumstances that endanger the safety of nations are infinite; and for this reason no constitutional shackles can wisely be imposed on the power to which the care of it is committed."

Supreme Court decision in the case of Korematsu v. United States:

"…hardships are part of war, and war is an aggregation of hardships. All citizens alike, both in and out of uniform, feel the impact of war in greater of lesser measure. Citizenship has its responsibilities as well as its privileges, and in time of war the burden is always heavier."

Former Representative Bill McCollum (R — Florida)

[A new all-encompassing national identification system] "contradicts some of our most sacrosanct American principles of personal liberty and expectations of privacy and is far in excess of what is needed to provide us with the security and protections we all want."

Representative Tom Tancredo (R — Colorado)

"Unfortunately, there are some in this country who believe both individually and institutionally that our Star-Spangled Banner represents something less than freedom, liberty and defiance in the face of our enemies."

United States Supreme Court Justice Anthony Scalia:

"The court's job is to uphold the Constitution and you don't call that off in times of crisis. Would the framers have allowed this practice?"

President of the United States, George W. Bush:

"Our citizens have new responsibilities. We must be vigilant. ...We will defend the values of our country, and we will live by them."

Irwin H. Schwartz, President of the National Association of Defense Lawyers:

"We call ourselves a nation of laws and the test of a nation of laws is whether it adheres to them in times of stress."

Representative C.L. "Butch" Otter (R — Idaho):

"This [anti-terrorism bill] is a violation of the First Amendment right to free speech and the Fourth Amendment protection of private property… Some of these provisions place more power in the hands of law enforcement than our Founding Fathers could have dreamt and severely compromises the civil liberties of law-abiding Americans. This bill, while crafted with good intentions, is rife with constitutional infringements I could not support."

Representative Ron Paul (R — Texas):

"The insult is to call this a ‘patriot bill'… I thought it was undermining the Constitution, so I didn’t vote for it — and therefore I’m somehow not a patriot. That’s insulting."

Representative Bernie Sanders (I — Vermont):

"I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, and I’m concerned that voting for this [anti-terrorism] legislation fundamentally violates that oath."

Elizabeth McLaughlin, September 11 widow:

"I don’t think contributors to the various September 11^th funds thought that their donations would be caught up in so much red tape and become a source of frustration to families."

Representative W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R — Louisiana):

"Well, just keep in mind the Red Cross is a federally chartered institution. They can only go so far and, at some point, if they continue to persist in the notion that they can raise money for one purpose and use it for another, they may just find themselves in big trouble."

Representative Ron Paul (R — Texas):

"America’s heart and soul is more embedded in our love of liberty, self-reliance, and tolerance than by our foreign policy, driven by powerful special interests with little regard for the Constitution."

Pat Buchanan:

"Either we abandon the utopian globalism of open borders and ‘ally-ally-in-free’ immigration or we lose the war on terrorism and our freedoms with it."

Nat Hentoff:

"But the crucial question is: How many Americans care what is happening to their liberties? Does the Constitution matter? The new anti-terrorism law, signed by the President, is the worst attack on the Bill of Rights since World War I."

Michael Rao, President of Central Michigan University:

"The university’s removal of any items considered offensive or vulgar by some is not condoned. The university is taking steps to assure students in the residence halls that their right to post materials and express opinion on their room doors is protected."

Donald Rumsfeld, U. S. Secretary of Defense:

"I recognize the need to provide the press -- and, through you, the American people -- with information to the fullest extent possible. In our democracy, the work of the Pentagon press corps is important, defending our freedom and way of life is what this conflict is about, and that certainly includes freedom of the press."

Representative Bob Barr (R–Georgia):

"It is a key balancing act we have to engage in as a nation right now. It would be very easy to forget about personal liberties and worry only about the national security."

Former President of the United States Dwight D. Eisenhower:

"Freedom from fear and injustice and oppression will be ours only in the measure that men who value such freedom are ready to sustain its possession — to defend it against every thrust from within and without."

President of the United States George W. Bush:

"We will plant that flag of freedom forever by winning the war on terrorism, by rallying our economy, and by keeping strong and adhering to the values we hold so dear — starting with freedom."

Former President of the United States Ronald Reagan:

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."

Representative Ron Paul (R – Texas):

"I believe only a free society can ever be truly secure. The goal should be to make terrorists feel threatened, not the American people."

Speaker of the House of Representatives Dennis Hastert (R –Illinois):

"It's not our intent to close up shop. We're going to be here and do the work. You know, one of the things the terrorists would love to do is to take away our freedom, our liberty, and part of that freedom and liberty is have elected people elected by the people to do the work in this nation. And we're not going to relinquish that duty."

Senator Russ Feingold (D — Wisconsin):

"It is crucial that civil liberties in this country be preserved otherwise the terrorists will win the battle against American values without firing another shot."

George W. Bush, President of the United States:

"The danger is here now not only from a military enemy, but from an enemy of all law, all liberty, all morality, all religion. For us, too, in the year 2001 an enemy has emerged that rejects every limit of law, morality and religion."

Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. Secretary of Defense:

"They died then because of how they lived as free men and women, proud of their freedom, proud of their country and proud of their country's cause, the cause of human freedom."

Nat Hentoff:

"Americans have only the dimmest notion of what their constitutional freedoms are — and what it took to get them…[and] the willingness to surrender what we’re supposed to be fighting for is a recurring part of our history."

Senator Robert C. Byrd (D— West Virginia):

"We must, therefore, be as constant in our vigilance of the Constitution as we are strong in our battle against terrorism."

Representative Bob Barr (R—Georgia):

"Let us not rush into a vast expansion of government power in a misguided attempt to protect freedom. In doing so, we will inevitably erode the very freedom we seek to protect."

House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R — Texas):

"We will not violate people’s basic rights as we make this nation more secure."

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D—Vermont):

"We’ve won wars before and we’ve certainly retained our rights as Americans."

Senator Judd Gregg (R — New Hampshire):

"I think the terrorist attacks have shown us we need to have adequate access to what’s going on with people who are basically evil and directing that evil at us as a country, and we can handle it without undermining our freedoms."

Senator Max Baucus (D—Montana):

"This does not mean that we can allow terrorists to alter the fundamental openness of U.S. society or the government’s respect for civil liberties. If we do so, they will have won."

Senator Jeff Sessions (R—Alabama):

"We need to give them [the Justice Department] as much power as we can without eroding fundamental liberties."

Representative Bob Barr (R — Georgia):

"What we must avoid is the impulse to hastily approve wholesale changes to search and seizure, surveillance, immigration and other laws in an understandable but misguided attempt to thwart future attacks."

Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D—Michigan):

"If we quickly cast aside our constitutional form of government, then the enemy will not be the terrorists, it will be us."

House Majority Leader Dick Armey:

"We are a democracy. What we are trying to save is our civil liberties."

Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D - Michigan):

"We must ensure that these acts of terror do not accomplish in a "slow burn" what the fires of the World Trade Center and Pentagon could not — subversively destroying the foundation of our democracy."

Rep. Bob Barr (R - Georgia):

"It is a key balancing act we have to engage in as a nation right now. It would be very easy to forget about personal liberties and worry only about national security. I don’t want to do that."

Rep. Frank D. Lucas (R — Oklahoma):

"If we were going to be absolutely safe we’d have to restrict people’s freedoms to the point that it wouldn’t be America anymore."

Virginia Governor James S. Gilmore, III:

"We can meet this terrorist threat without trampling the Constitution here or at home. In fact, the goal of the enemy would have us trample our constitutional rights. We don’t have to do that."

David Keene, President of the American Conservative Union:

"Before Congress opts to increase our security by trading off the freedoms that make this nation unique, everyone ought to step back and take a very deep breath."

Donald Rumsfeld, Defense Secretary:

"The people who committed these acts are clearly determined to try to force the United States of America and our values to withdraw from the world. Or to respond by curtailing our freedoms. If we do that, the terrorists will have won. And we have no intention of doing so."

United States Attorney General John Ashcroft:

"We’re going to do everything we can to harmonize the constitutional rights of individuals with every legal capacity we can muster to also protect the safety and security of individuals."