1st Amendment

Rich Lowry, National Review Editor, on Campaign Finance Reform:

"The same way I can turn on my computer whenever I want and write about whatever I want, Citizens Against Hastert should be able to advertise about anything they want, whenever they want. It's called freedom. [Leftists] appreciate it in other areas, why not when it comes to political speech?"

Cal Thomas, Author and Syndicated Columnist:

"Free speech does not guarantee anyone the right to be heard but it does guarantee the right of the speaker to speak and not be silenced."

Steven Chapman, Chicago Tribune Columnist:

"But even in wartime, the Constitution doesn’t protect just freedom of popular speech, or the right to support the government, or the expression of political views that don’t make anyone mad."

Representative Todd Akin (R — MI):

"This [campaign-finance reform] is an absolutely black-and-white issue that is a serious infringement of the First Amendment. That flaw in and of itself is totally sufficient to warrant a no vote, and if I were the president I would veto it in a heartbeat."

National Review Editorial:

"The Supreme Court has previously made it clear that such restrictions on political speech – the right at the core of the First Amendment – must be extremely narrow and clear-cut. The idea has traditionally been to carve out a broad, easily understood safe harbor for political speech, which is exactly what the campaign-finance bill intends to undercut."

Nat Hentoff, Journalist/Author:

"[T]here is no way to reconcile censorship and a free society."

U.S. Representative Robert W. Ney (R — Ohio):

"I would rather defeat so-called campaign finance reform than pass legislation that stops the voices of citizens’ First Amendment right to speak out, obliterates the political parties and hinders crucial get-out-the-vote efforts which are so important to the American election process."

John Nelson, a Newport Beach man who filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the city unconstitutionally violates the separation of church and state by giving churchgoers special rights to some of the most valued real estate in town: beach parking:

"I believe that every citizen has a responsibility to be vigilant to make sure the provisions of the Constitution are not diluted…. I know it's not a popular cause, but we need to stick to the issues. I'm a lone ranger who believes in the Constitution of the U.S."

Anchorman and Executive Producer of The O’Reilly Factor, Bill O’Reilly:

"There is a point where political correctness becomes an acid that erodes freedom."

Author Mark Mathabane on schools banning his book, Kaffir Boy:

"I say fight such narrow-mindedness, continue to expose your students to the realities of life and continue to challenge them to value the sanctity of their minds. Do not allow them to be invaded by America’s Taliban, whose goal is to extinguish the precious lamp of independent thinking, which is the hallmark of the truly free."

Don Campbell, lecturer in journalism at Emory University on speech codes on campus:

"Those who are speaking out against this latest war may be misguided, ignorant and an embarrassment to their chosen profession. But there’s no better way to demonstrate that than to give them a forum. Surely a country as strong as ours is not threatened by people making fools of themselves. Speech codes invoked in the name of patriotism are just as repugnant as speech codes invoked in the name of political correctness."

2nd Amendment

The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in United States v. Emerson:

"The plain meaning of the right of the people to bear arms is that it is an individual right and is not limited to keeping arms while engaged in military service or as a member of a select militia such as the National Guard… It appears clear that ‘the people,’ as used in the Constitution, including the Second Amendment, refers to individual Americans." 

Mark Levin, Former Chief of Staff to Attorney General Edwin Meese, III:

"[The purpose of the Bill of Rights was to] protect the liberty of individuals against the power of the central government… The right to bear arms is no less of a right than the right of free speech. The problem with liberals is that they wish to pick and chose between individual liberties and scuttle those with which they don’t agree…"

John Ashcroft, United States Attorney General:

"Let me state unequivocally my view that the text and the original intent of the Second Amendment clearly protects the right of individuals to keep and bear firearms," Ashcroft wrote. "While some have argued that the Second Amendment guarantees only a 'collective right' of the states to maintain militias, I believe the amendment's plain meaning and original intent prove otherwise."

Larry Pratt, Executive Director of Gun Owners of America:

"The continued attack on private sales at gun shows is likely to be the hardest push coming from gun control forces both in and out of Congress. They put their heads together after September 11 and decided that, even though guns weren't used in the biggest mass murder in American history, they would go ahead and try to link terrorism to gun shows."

4th Amendment

Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar, California State Supreme Court, in her dissenting opinion on police searches:

"Nothing — not the Constitution, nor any statute nor the cases cited by the majority — authorizes the police to conduct a warrantless vehicle search in an attempt to discover the license of a driver who asserts he or she does not have it in the car."

For more "Bill of Rights" quotes, click here.