Hugo Black

“ Those grounds are not conviction of a bookseller for possession of an 'obscene' book when he is unaware of its obscenity 'will tend to restrict the books he sells to those he has inspected,' and therefore 'may tend to work a substantial restriction on freedom of speech.' The fact is, of course, that prison sentences for possession of 'obscene' books will seriously burden freedom of the press whether punishment is imposed with or without knowledge of the obscenity. ”

“ While it is 'obscenity and indecency' before us today, the experience of mankind-both ancient and modern-shows that this type of elastic phrase can, and most likely will, be synonymous with the political and maybe with the religious unorthodoxy of tomorrow.
Censorship is the deadly enemy of freedom and progress. ”

“ Certainly the First Amendment's language leaves no room for inference that abridgments of speech and press can be made just because they are slight. That Amendment provides, in simple words, that 'Congress shall make no law * * * abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.' I read 'no law * * * abridging' to mean no law abridging. ”