[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 71 (Tuesday, May 2, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H4448]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                        SUPPORT FOR FREE SPEECH

  (Ms. NORTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, the Oklahoma City tragedy has spread some 
connective tissue among Americans. It has compelled us not only to 
recognize our fragile vulnerability, but to reaffirm our basic unity. I 
am bemused by the new crop of civil libertarians the crisis has 
awakened. They are a welcome sight, especially those who regularly 
vilified others who defended unpopular speech on the left and right. 
Talk show hosts and Members of Congress now often sound like card-
carrying members of the ACLU.
  I hope that the new found zeal for civil liberties carrier forward 
when the next bill to curtail them comes to the floor, or when the 
militia come at us from the left instead of the right.
  As a young constitutional lawyer, I was put to the first amendment 
test when I was called on to defend racists and neo-Nazis. I really had 
no choice. Surely now we know that none of us do. Free speech is 
unequivocal, unpolitical, and indivisible.

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