More Fundamentally, However, The Answer To Petitioners'

The Door Of The Free Exercise Clause Stands Tightly Closed Against Any Government Regulation Of Religious Beliefs As Such. Government May Neither Compel Affirmation Of A Repugnant Belief, Nor Penalize Or Discriminate Against Individuals Or Groups Because They Hold Views Abhorrent To The Authorities.

Our Amended Constitution Is The Lodestar For Our Aspirations. Like Every Text Worth Reading, It Is Not Crystalline. The Phrasing Is Broad And The Limitations Of Its Provisions Are Not Clearly Marked. Its Majestic Generalities And Ennobling Pronouncements Are Both Luminous And Obscure. This Ambiguity Of Course Calls Forth Interpretation, The Interaction Of Reader And Text. The Encounter With The Constitutional Text Has Been, In Many Senses, My Life's Work.

We Hold That The Constitution Does Not Forbid The States Minor Intrusions Into An Individual's Body Under Stringently Limited Conditions.

At Bottom, The Battle Has Been Waged On Moral Grounds. The Country Has Debated Whether A Society For Which The Dignity Of The Individual Is The Supreme Value Can, Without A Fundamental Inconsistency, Follow The Practice Of Deliberately Putting One Of Its Members To Death.

The Law Is Not An End In Itself, Nor Does It Provide Ends. It Is Preeminently A Means To Serve What We Think Is Right.