what are speech articles

• Speech Writing
• Delivery Techniques
• PowerPoint & Visuals
• Speaker Habits
• Speaker Resources

Speech Critiques

• Book Reviews
• Browse Articles
• ALL Articles
• Learn About Us
• About Six Minutes
• Meet Our Authors
• Write for Us
• Advertise With Us

50 Most Popular Public Speaking Articles

To celebrate our 5-year anniversary, we have compiled  our 50 most popular speaking articles .

Please share this article with others , and save or bookmark it to return again and again to enjoy the best of Six Minutes . Thanks for reading!

5 Most Popular Articles

These are the articles being shared most often by our readers:

• The 25 Public Speaking Skills Every Speaker Must Have
• How to Introduce a Speaker: 16 Essential Tips for Success
• The Secret of Choosing Successful Speech Topics
• 7 Habits for Highly Effective Speakers
• What can Mickey Mouse Teach You about Public Speaking?

5 Most Popular Guest Articles

The very best from our wonderful and talented guest authors :

• 10 Presentation Habits My College Students – And You – Must UN-Learn  – by Alex Rister  
• 8 Speechwriting Lessons You Can Learn from Songwriters  – by Peter Jeff
• 6 Communication Barriers and How You Can Avoid Them  – by Stacey Hanke
• Pump Up Your Speaking Voice with a Strength Training Workout  – by Kate Peters
• How to Get Started as a Professional Speaker: 6 Key Steps  – by Jane Atkinson

5 Most Popular Articles Series

• Ethos, Pathos, Logos: Three Pillars of Public Speaking Detailed guide to credibility, emotion, and logic which are the secret to persuasive speaking.
• Toastmasters Speech Series Your guide to the 10 speeches of the Toastmasters Competent Communicator Program.
• Speech Preparation Series 10-article series examining the six steps which are necessary to prepare a speech, reduce nervousness, and combat fear.
• Speech Analysis Series 5-article series examining presentation analysis as a key skill to improve your speaking skills.
• Rule of Three & Speechwriting Comprehensive guide to this powerful speechwriting technique as it applies to crafting memorable phrases, speech outlines, and speech humor.

5 Most Popular Speech Writing Articles

• How to Weave Statistics Into Your Speech
• TEASE ‘em: 5 Ways to Start Your Speech
• 10 Ways to End Your Speech with a Bang
• How to Use Quotes in Your Speech: 8 Benefits and 21 Tips
• How to Axe Your Presentation… and Still Deliver Value

5 Most Popular Delivery Technique Articles

• Are Your Speech Gestures Too Small, Too Big, or Just Right?
• Breathing: The Seductive Key to Unlocking Your Vocal Variety
• Speech Pauses: 12 Techniques to Speak Volumes with Your Silence
• Should a Speaker Apologize to the Audience?
• How to Connect With Your Audience by Moving Closer

5 Most Popular Visual Design Articles

• How to Improve Your PowerPoint Slides with the Rule of Thirds
• How Many Slides Should You Have? How Many Slides Do You Need?
• How to Create Pro Slides in Less Time: Don’t Worry, Be CRAPpy
• The 10-20-30 Rule: Guy Kawasaki on PowerPoint
• Use PowerPoint Visuals, Not Bullets – What the World Eats

5 Most Popular Speaker Habit Articles

• Average Speakers Suck. Don’t be Average.
• Love the Process and Improve Your Speaking Skills
• 8 Key Points for Perfect Presentation Practice
• Why You Must Relish Every Opportunity to Speak
• The Only Thing to Do When Disaster Strikes Your Speech

5 Most Popular Speech Critiques

• Martin Luther King Jr.  –  I Have a Dream
• Randy Pausch  –  The Last Lecture (Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams)
• Hans Rosling  –  Debunking third-world myths with the best stats you’ve ever seen
• Barack Obama  –  Presidential Inaugural Address
• Steve Jobs  –  Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

5 Most Popular Books Reviewed on Six Minutes

These are the books purchased most often by our readers:

• slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations  – Nancy Duarte
• Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery  – Garr Reynolds
• Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln: 21 Powerful Secrets of History’s Greatest Speakers  – James Humes
• The Story Factor: Inspiration, Influence, and Persuasion Through the Art of Storytelling  – Annette Simmons
• The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking  – Dale Carnegie

5 Most Popular Reader Question Articles

Many of our articles are inspired by reader questions. Here’s the best of the best!

• Bookending Your Speech: A Master Technique
• 9 Do’s and Taboos to Eat, Drink, and Speak
• How to Stop Saying Um, Uh, and Other Filler Words
• How to Dress for Public Speaking
• Speaking in Church: Lectern or No Lectern?

Please share this...

This is one of many public speaking articles featured on Six Minutes . Subscribe to Six Minutes for free to receive future articles.

Add a Comment Cancel reply

E-Mail (hidden)

Subscribe - It's Free!

Similar articles you may like....

• The Best of Six Minutes: 2007-2009
• The Best of Six Minutes – Six Month Edition
• 25 Public Speaking Skills Every Speaker Must Have
• Gifts Public Speakers Really Want: Dozens of Christmas Ideas
• You are Invited to Write for Six Minutes
• Six Minutes Holiday Maintenance

Find More Articles Tagged:

Awesome! It’s all of your best stuff in one easy to find location. Thanks for putting it altogether.

This is a a really great resource for public speaking and speech writing.

I am going to link back to this in my next post on my page that is about public speaking free resources!

I, for one, am thrilled to see that the World’s Worst Wet T-Shirt Contest is finally off the list!

Sir, I am not a good public speaker and there is some fear in me which comes when i am infront of larger audience. Please refer me some books or articles so that I can overcome this problem. Waiting for your reply.

Recent Tweets

50 Most Popular Public Speaking Articles http://t.co/Ok8a2ZHB via @6minutes — Speak Out Nov 6th, 2012

Awesome! 50 Most Popular Public Speaking Articles http://t.co/fcF9tML2 — Presenting Away Nov 6th, 2012

50 most popular public speaking articles from @6minutes http://t.co/BLeeXw8X — Maria Pantalone Nov 17th, 2012

Brush up your presentation skills with the 50 most popular public speaking articles from @6minutes: http://t.co/qYE7wcDO #tips — Sales Graphics Nov 22nd, 2012

50 Most Popular Public Speaking Articles http://t.co/IQfwGOp9 via @6minutes — Annik & Little Pony Nov 23rd, 2012

As u may be enjoying some time off, public speakers, here are '50 Most PopularPublic Speaking Articles' for u 2 enjoy http://t.co/u6oi9kVY — Helena Holrick Dec 26th, 2012

Thanks v much @helenaholrick for the link, looks very useful: 50 Most Popular Public Speaking Articles http://t.co/JFaQZMfn #publicspeaking — Speaking Out Dec 26th, 2012

50 Most Popular Public Speaking Articles http://t.co/u6oi9kVY This may be of interest to you& your followers @1230Jackie & @Speaking_Out — Jackie Groundsell Dec 29th, 2012

50 Most Popular Public Speaking Articles https://t.co/glAdJIKIUh by @6minutes — @franwats Aug 4th, 2016

50 Most Popular Public Speaking Articles https://t.co/xyMIRHQ0CA by @6minutes — @MuslehSofi Oct 29th, 2017

2 Blog Links

Six Minutes Marks Five Years | Brinker Toastmasters — Oct 24th, 2012

Your 25 Favorite Posts Of 2012 | Mr. Media Training — Dec 20th, 2012

Featured Articles

• Majora Carter (TED, 2006) Energy, Passion, Speaking Rate
• Hans Rosling (TED, 2006) 6 Techniques to Present Data
• J.A. Gamache (Toastmasters, 2007) Gestures, Prop, Writing
• Steve Jobs (Stanford, 2005) Figures of speech, rule of three
• Al Gore (TED, 2006) Humor, audience interaction
• Dick Hardt (OSCON, 2005) Lessig Method of Presentation

Books We Recommend

Six Minutes Copyright © 2007-2019 All Rights Reserved.

Read our permissions policy , privacy policy , or disclosure policy .

Comments? Questions? Contact us .

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

• LISTEN & FOLLOW
• Apple Podcasts
• Google Podcasts
• Amazon Music

Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free feed.

What's Really Behind America's 'Free Speech Problem'

A recent New York Times op-ed reigned the debate over whether or not America has a free speech problem. AFP Contributor/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

A recent New York Times op-ed reigned the debate over whether or not America has a free speech problem.

"America has a free speech problem."

That New York Times headline recently reignited an ongoing debate over free speech and how it's applied.

New polling from Times Opinion and Siena College shows that 84 percent of adults said it is a "very serious" or "somewhat serious" problem that some Americans don't "speak freely" because they fear retaliation or criticism. The editorial board equates this anxiety with losing what it calls a "fundamental right [for] citizens of a free country: the right to speak [our] minds."

Critics were swift to debunk that Times' argument online and across national editorial boards, including the Philadelphia Inquirer and Portland Press Herald. And, the Knight Foundation surveyed that 63 percent of Americans think it's one of the most important rights.

So, does America have a free speech problem? We discuss how "cancel culture" affected people's engagement with free speech.

Alex Abdo and Thomas Zimmer join us for the conversation.

Like what you hear? Find more of our programs online .

Articles on Speech

Displaying 1 - 20 of 82 articles.

Slowed speech may indicate cognitive decline more accurately than forgetting words

Claire Lancaster , University of Sussex and Alice Stanton , University of Sussex

What inner speech is, and why philosophy is waking up to it

Daniel Gregory , Universitat de Barcelona

Why AI software ‘softening’ accents is problematic

Grégory Miras , Université de Lorraine

How to improve your communication with someone with a speech impairment

Claire Davies , Queen's University, Ontario

Why somepeopletalkveryfast and others … take … their … time − despite stereotypes, it has nothing to do with intelligence

Michelle Devereaux , Kennesaw State University and Chris C. Palmer , Kennesaw State University

Presidential pauses? What those ‘ums’ and ‘uhs’ really tell us about candidates for the White House

Valerie M. Fridland , University of Nevada, Reno

What is that voice in your head when you read?

Beth Meisinger , University of Memphis and Roger J. Kreuz , University of Memphis

Dobble: what is the psychology behind the game?

Nick Perham , Cardiff Metropolitan University and Helen Hodgetts , Cardiff Metropolitan University

American man developed an Irish accent after getting prostate cancer – foreign accent syndrome explained

Johan Verhoeven , City, University of London and Stefanie Keulen , Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Naur, yeah: Australia, you’re performing linguistic magic when you pronounce the two-letter word ‘no’. Here’s why

Amy Hume , The University of Melbourne

Do accents disappear?

Chris C. Palmer , Kennesaw State University and Michelle Devereaux , Kennesaw State University

When was talking invented? A language scientist explains how this unique feature of human beings may have evolved

Richard Futrell , University of California, Irvine

Face masks affect how children understand speech differently from adults – new research

Dr. Julia Schwarz , University of Cambridge

Babies can learn language sounds in the first few hours of being born – new research

Guillaume Thierry , Bangor University

What makes us subconsciously mimic the accents of others in conversation

Lacey Wade , University of Pennsylvania

Gilbert Gottfried and the mechanics of crafting one of the most memorable voices of all time

Erica Tobolski , University of South Carolina

What is aphasia? An expert explains the condition forcing Bruce Willis to retire from acting

Swathi Kiran , Boston University

What is aphasia, the condition Bruce Willis lives with?

Abby Foster , Monash Health and Caroline Baker , Monash Health

How Kwame Nkrumah’s midnight speech set a tradition for marking the moment of liberation

Erik Johnson , Stetson University

TikTok, #BamaRush and the irresistible allure of mocking Southern accents

Kathryn Cunningham , University of Tennessee

Related Topics

• Child development
• Communication
• Linguistics
• Neuroscience

Top contributors

Senior Lecturer in Linguistics, Monash University

Associate Dean and Professor of Psychology, University of Memphis

Professor of English, Kennesaw State University

Professor in Psychology, UCL

Professor of English and English Education, Kennesaw State University

Professor in Criminology and Justice Studies, RMIT University

Professor of Digital Communication, Queensland University of Technology

Chair of Academic Board, Victoria University

Professor of Politics & International Studies, The Open University

Dean of External Engagment and Executive Director of the Hawke EU Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, University of South Australia

Professor of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University

PhD Candidate, Dementia, University of Sussex

Senior Research Associate, Lancaster University

Senior lecturer in English Language, University of Manchester

University of Maryland

• X (Twitter)
• Unfollow topic Follow topic

• Parts of Speech and Sentence Structure

To use all the features of this portal, please activate Javascript in your browser.

To use all the features of this portal, please use Internet Explorer Version 6 or higher.

• the car down the street, the man next to you
• a book, an apple, a bottle
• the definite article the : You use it before a singular or a plural noun when you talk about one or more specific member(s) of a group (things, places or people) that is known to you: the tall man, the big house, the man next to me ;
• the indefinite articles a/an : You use them before a singular noun when you talk about any general thing : a line, a house, a kitchen, a person, an apple, an airport, an idea, an umbrella .
• You use the article a before nouns/adjectives or numbers that start with a consonant : a line, a kitchen, a person, a dog, a book, a tall man, a five-year-old boy, a job interview .
• You use the article an before nouns that start with a vowel : an apple, an idea, an umbrella, an egg, an hour, an eight-year-old girl, an interview .
• There is --- a an airport close to the city.  
• Do you have --- a an armchair in your room?  
• She has --- an a idea!  
• They have --- an a female English teacher.  
• He eats --- an a apple.  
• There is --- a an school around the corner.  
• She has --- an a new armchair.  
• We will give him --- a an book for his birthday.  
• Check  (  1  )
• Check and show solutions
• He works as pilot.  
• I need new TV.  
• He is best teacher at the school.  
• They have eight-year-old girl.  
• book she bought yesterday is not so good.  
• She is nicest girl I know.  
• She is nice girl.  
• city that she likes the most is New York City.  
• time  
• shop  
• example  
• bike  
• umbrella  
• number  
• elephant  
• opinion  
• eagle  
• table  
• door  
• week  
• adjective  
• English book  
• Michael says: "I have best friend. His name is Josh. He lives in small house outside the city. They have beautiful garden behind house. house is painted blue and there is fence around garden. I love going there. It's so nice and peaceful."  

Learn more ...

Justice Alito warns of declining support for freedom of speech on college campuses

Conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Saturday warned that support for freedom of speech is "declining dangerously," especially on college campuses, as part of a commencement address he delivered at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, a Catholic college in Ohio.

His remarks appeared to reference unrest at various college campuses around the country arising from protests against Israel's military operations in Gaza.

“Right now in the world outside this beautiful campus, troubled waters are slamming against some of our most fundamental principles," Alito said.

"Support for freedom of speech is declining dangerously," he added, especially on college campuses, where the exchange of ideas should be most protected.

"Very few colleges live up to that ideal. This place is one of them … but things are not that way out there in the broader world," Alito said.

But Alito's support for free speech has its limits — he was a notable sole dissenter when the Supreme Court in 2011 ruled 8-1 that members of the conservative Westboro Baptist Church had a free speech right to picket the funeral of a military veteran.

"Our profound national commitment to free and open debate is not a license for the vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case," he wrote in dissent.

Alito, who is Catholic, has frequently raised the alarm about freedom of religion being under attack and has often voted in favor of expanding religious rights.

"Freedom of religion is also imperiled," he told the graduating students. "When you venture out into the world, you may well find yourself in a job, or community or a social setting when you will be pressured to endorse ideas you don’t believe, or to abandon core beliefs. It will be up to you to stand firm."

The Supreme Court is poised in the coming weeks to issue major rulings on a series of contentious issues including abortion, gun rights and whether former President Donald Trump is immune from prosecution for his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Alito, the author of the 2022 ruling that overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade, is one of several justices making public appearances while the court prepares its rulings.

On Friday, fellow conservative Justice Clarence Thomas spoke at a judicial conference in Alabama, where he decried the "nastiness and the lies" he has faced.

He and his wife, conservative political activist Ginni Thomas, have both been in the spotlight in recent years. He has been accused of failing to follow ethics rules, while she was criticized for backing Trump's effort to challenge election results.

At another judicial conference in Texas, conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh said Friday that Supreme Court rulings that are unpopular when issued can later become part of the "fabric of American constitutional law."

Lawrence Hurley covers the Supreme Court for NBC News.

Jerry Seinfeld's speech at Duke commencement prompts walkout protesting his support for Israel

• Medium Text

Sign up here.

Reporting by Julia Harte; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Gerry Doyle

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. New Tab , opens new tab

World Chevron

Catalonia's separatist leader quits, refuses to back Socialists to form regional government

Catalonia's outgoing president said on Monday he would quit politics after his separatist party's disastrous showing in the region's election that saw Spain's Socialists deliver an historic upset to the independence movement.

Students walk out of Jerry Seinfeld's Duke University graduation speech

• Jerry Seinfeld delivered the graduation speech at Duke University on Sunday.
• A video on X showed students walking out during his speech waving Palestinian flags. 
• Seinfeld has spoken publicly in defense of Israel during its war in Gaza.

Duke University graduates walked out during Jerry Seinfeld's commencement speech on Sunday, highlighting how American universities remain a political battleground.

A 25-second video shared to X showed students standing from their seats and walking out of Wallace Wade Stadium as Seinfeld, 70, took the stage. Some of them held Palestinian flags.

In the footage, some people are seen cheering for Seinfeld while others appear to boo. Some people also chanted "Free Palestine," according to Reuters.

Related stories

Seinfeld has been a vocal supporter of Israel amid the war in Gaza and was among more than 700 entertainment leaders who signed an open letter in support of Israel .

Duke University shared a video of Seinfeld's commencement speech on YouTube, but the footage doesn't show the exiting students. Seinfeld steered clear of heavy topics during the speech. He instead just poked fun at the students and offered life advice.

Seinfeld mentioned his heritage during the speech while defending privilege, saying, "I say, use your privilege. I grew up a Jewish boy from New York. That is a privilege if you want to be a comedian."

Seinfeld graduated from Queen College, City University of New York, but received an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from Duke University.

"We're excited and delighted for the Class of 2024 and their families. We understand the depth of feeling in our community, and as we have all year, we respect the right of everyone at Duke to express their views peacefully, without preventing graduates and their families from celebrating their achievement," Frank Tramble, vice president for marketing, communications and public affairs at the university, said in a statement.

Representatives for Seinfeld did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

The students' walkout at Duke University is the latest example of the tension roiling American college campuses.

Police arrested over 300 people at Columbia University and the City College of New York this month during pro-Palestinian demonstrations . The university canceled this year's main commencement ceremony following protests on campus.

Billionaire donors like Leon Cooperman have criticized student protesters and threatened to stop donating to the university.

Watch: Clashes from Columbia University to UCLA as students call for ceasefire in Gaza

• Main content

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

Trump praises fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter during rally speech

Ex-president calls Hopkins’s cannibalistic Lecter ‘late, great’ while condemning ‘people who are being released into our country’

Donald Trump on Saturday praised the fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter “as a wonderful man” before segueing into comments disparaging people who have immigrated into the US without permission.

The former president’s remarks to political rally-goers in Wildwood, New Jersey, as he challenges Joe Biden’s re-election in November were a not-so-subtle rhetorical bridge exalting Anthony Hopkins’s cannibalistic Lecter in Silence of the Lambs as “late [and] great” while simultaneously condemning “people who are being released into our country that we don’t want”.

Trump delivered his address to a crowd of about 80,000 supporters – according to one estimate from a Wildwood city spokesperson – under the shadow of the Great White roller coaster in the 1950s-kitsch seaside resort 90 miles (145km) south of Philadelphia. The crowd began thinning considerably as Trump spoke, a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote on X in a post that contained video of people leaving the site of the rally.

The occasion served for Trump to renew his stated admiration for Lecter, as he has done before, after the actor Mads Mikkelsen – who previously portrayed Lecter in a television series – once described Trump as “a fresh wind for some people”.

Among other comments, Trump on Sunday also repeated exaggerations about having “been indicted more than the great Alphonse Capone”, the violent Prohibition-era Chicago mob boss.

Trump since the spring of 2023 has grappled with four indictments attributing more than 80 criminal charges to him for attempts to subvert the outcome of the 2020 election he lost to Biden, retaining classified materials after his presidency and hush-money payments to an adult film actor which prosecutors maintain were illicitly covered up.

The trial over the hush money is set to enter its fourth week of witness testimony on Monday.

Yet Capone was indicted at least six times before his famous 1931 tax evasion conviction.

Trump nonetheless used the occasion to call the charges against him “bullshit”, with spectators then chanting the word back at him.

The Philadelphia Inquirer noted that the former president’s supporters had poured into Wildwood in “pickup trucks decked out in Trump flags” from up and down the east coast.

According to the outlet, hundreds of people set up camp overnight on the boardwalk to get into the event.

“The country is headed in the wrong direction,” Kelly Carter-Currier, a 62-year-old retired teacher from New Hampshire, told the Inquirer. “So, hopefully, people will get their shit together and vote the right person in. And if they don’t, I don’t know. World War III?”

after newsletter promotion

On the other hand, New Jersey Democrats dismissed the significance of the event.

Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill said many of the Trump supporters expected would be from out of state. “Jersey is not going to be a welcoming place for Trump,” Sherrill said.

Sherrill’s fellow New Jersey Democrat Andy Kim, a congressman running for the US Senate, said that generalized apathy toward government helped Trump’s support.

“I hope people recognize that he is not somebody that has an agenda that’s going to lead to a better type of politics,” Kim said.

• US elections 2024
• Donald Trump
• US politics
• Republicans

Most viewed

Advertisement

Supported by

Justice Alito Warns of Threats to Freedom of Speech and Religion

In a commencement ceremony at a Catholic university, the justice said that fundamental principles were in peril at universities and American society.

• Share full article

By Adam Liptak

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. warned on Saturday that freedom of speech was under threat at universities and that freedom of religion was in peril in society at large.

“Troubled waters are slamming against some of our most fundamental principles,” he said.

He made his remarks at a commencement ceremony at the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, a Catholic institution.

“Support for freedom of speech is declining dangerously, especially where it should find deepest acceptance,” he said.

A university, he said, should be “a place for reasoned debate.” But he added that “today, very few colleges live up to that ideal.”

The same is true, he said, for tolerance of religious views in society generally.

“Freedom of religion is also imperiled,” he said. “When you venture out into the world, you may well find yourself in a job or a community or a social setting when you will be pressured to endorse ideas you don’t believe or to abandon core beliefs. It will be up to you to stand firm.”

In other settings , Justice Alito has given a specific example, complaining that people opposed to same-sex marriage on religious grounds are sometimes treated as bigots.

As the Supreme Court prepares to issue major decisions in the coming weeks, including ones on a criminal case against former President Donald J. Trump, abortion, gun rights and social media, members of its conservative majority have fanned out across the nation to offer varied takes on their work.

At a judicial conference on Friday in Alabama, Justice Clarence Thomas spoke bitterly about being subjected to what he called “the nastiness and the lies.” The justice has been criticized for receiving lavish gifts and for failing to recuse himself from cases arising from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol despite his wife’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

That same day, at a judicial conference in Texas, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh struck a sunnier tone , speaking of his dedication to neutral principles and the court’s efforts to find consensus.

Those appearances were wide-ranging public conversations, while Justice Alito’s speech was brief and general. But it was laced with the justice’s characteristic pessimism.

“It’s rough out there,” he said. “And, in fact, I think it is rougher out there right now than it has been for quite some time.”

He received an extended standing ovation when a speaker introducing him noted that he had written the majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the 2022 decision that overruled Roe v. Wade and eliminated the constitutional right to abortion it had established.

In his speech, Justice Alito said that respect for precedent, in law and life, was important.

“If you read almost any opinion issued by a court in this country, you will see that the text is full of citations to past court decisions,” he said. “Those decisions, which we call precedents, are given great respect. They are not written in stone. Sometimes they must be changed, but they are not to be lightly discarded.”

Adam Liptak covers the Supreme Court and writes Sidebar, a column on legal developments. A graduate of Yale Law School, he practiced law for 14 years before joining The Times in 2002. More about Adam Liptak

We've detected unusual activity from your computer network

To continue, please click the box below to let us know you're not a robot.

Why did this happen?

Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy .

For inquiries related to this message please contact our support team and provide the reference ID below.