Open & Shut

A collection of notable quotations

From the Fall 2010 issue of The News Media & The Law, page 38.

“This court has given substantial, longstanding protection to speech on public issues. And how can it be gainsaid that the dying soldiers is not on the lips of everyone in this country?”

— Margie Phelps, attorney for Westboro Baptist Church, arguing to the U.S. Supreme Court in Snyder v. Phelps that the First Amendment protects anti-homosexuality protests outside military funerals

“Joe Miller wants to be a U.S. senator and he is going to have it a hell of a lot tougher with journalists in the beltway than he is with local media. I was just doing my job.”

— Tony Hopfinger, reporter for website Alaska Dispatch, on being handcuffed by Miller’s security

“I think it would be a terrific thing to have cameras in the courtroom. When you see what happens here, it’s an inspiring sight.”

— U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan during her confirmation hearings

“I’m not sure that a 14-year-old who pulls a gun and kills two people will be stigmatized by having his name published in the paper.”

— Frank Gibson, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

“You send another goon to my daughter’s house and I’ll take you out, buddy.”

— Carl Paladino, Republican candidate for governor of New York, to New York Post reporter Fred Dicker