"So sometimes the facts are good and sometimes the facts are bad, the important thing from the point of view of a principle as broad and important as freedom of speech is that the courts articulate and set forth in a very protective way what those principles are"
About this Quote
The subtext is a warning about judicial mood swings. When facts are “good” (a sympathetic speaker, a noble cause), judges can sound heroic about liberty. When facts are “bad” (a hateful speaker, ugly misinformation, national-security panic), the same judges can quietly narrow doctrine and call it prudence. Abrams is arguing that the First Amendment can’t be built on our favorite plaintiffs. Principles that only survive when we approve of the speaker are not principles; they’re permissions.
The phrasing “articulate and set forth” is lawyerly on purpose. He’s not asking courts to feel protective; he’s asking them to write protection into the architecture of precedent, so that the doctrine holds even when the country is angry. Read in context of modern speech fights (from Pentagon Papers-era secrecy to today’s platform and propaganda anxieties), Abrams is staking out a classic civil-libertarian position: the legitimacy of free speech depends on the judiciary being at its most stringent precisely when the case makes you least comfortable. That’s not sentimental. It’s systems design.
Quote Details
| Topic | Freedom |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Abrams, Floyd. (2026, January 15). So sometimes the facts are good and sometimes the facts are bad, the important thing from the point of view of a principle as broad and important as freedom of speech is that the courts articulate and set forth in a very protective way what those principles are. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/so-sometimes-the-facts-are-good-and-sometimes-the-150624/
Chicago Style
Abrams, Floyd. "So sometimes the facts are good and sometimes the facts are bad, the important thing from the point of view of a principle as broad and important as freedom of speech is that the courts articulate and set forth in a very protective way what those principles are." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/so-sometimes-the-facts-are-good-and-sometimes-the-150624/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"So sometimes the facts are good and sometimes the facts are bad, the important thing from the point of view of a principle as broad and important as freedom of speech is that the courts articulate and set forth in a very protective way what those principles are." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/so-sometimes-the-facts-are-good-and-sometimes-the-150624/. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.
