Louis Brandeis was a Supreme Court Justice from 1916 to 1939. He invented the Brandeis Brief, a collection of empirical data to help guide SCOTUS decisions. Justice Brandeis has many memorable quotes in his opinions. The current DWI hysteria that has led to blood draw warrants inspired me to choose this one.
Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.
This quote is from a SCOTUS case regarding government wiretaps. Brandeis dissented a decision that found telephone wiretaps “reasonable” under the 4th Amendment. For more quotes from LB click here.