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“The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic.”
-Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
Which interpretation of the Bill of Rights does this statement illustrate?
1. The needs of the government are more important than civil liberties.
2. Constitutional protections of liberty are not absolute.
3. The Supreme Court can eliminate freedoms listed in the Bill of Rights.
4. The Bill of Rights does not safeguard individual liberties.
2. Constitutional protections of liberty are not absolute.
The civil liberties granted by the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and other amendments are not absolute. This means that they may be limited or suspended depending on circumstance or situation, usually in cases of national emergency (examples include: suspension of habeas corpus by Lincoln during the Civil War, limiting of freedom of speech and press during World War I and the internment of Japanese-Americans without dues process during World War II).