necessary as we need to tolerate unpopular views. This right
requires the free flow of opinions and ideas essential to sustain
the collective life of the citizenry. While an informed citizenry is
a pre-condition for meaningful governance, the culture of open
dialogue is generally of great societal importance.
11.
This last judgment is important in that it refers to the
“market place of ideas” concept that has permeated American
Law. This was put in the felicitous words of Justice Holmes in
his famous dissent in Abrams v. United States, 250 US 616
(1919), thus:
“But when men have realized that time has upset
many fighting faiths, they may come to believe even
more than they believe the very foundations of their
own conduct that the ultimate good desired is better
reached by free trade in ideas-that the best test of
truth is the power of thought to get itself accepted in
the competition of the market, and that truth is the
only ground upon which their wishes safely can be
carried out. That at any rate is the theory of our
Constitution.”
12.
Justice Brandeis in his famous concurring judgment in
Whitney v. California, 71 L. Ed. 1095 said:
11