In a constitutional democracy the moral content of law must be given by the morality of the framer or legislator, never by the morality of the judge.
Interpretation
Laws should reflect the intentions of lawmakers rather than judges' personal morals.
This quote suggests that in a constitutional democracy, it is essential for the laws to be rooted in the values and intentions of those who create them (the framers or legislators), rather than being influenced by the subjective moral interpretations of judges. This perspective highlights the importance of democratic principles and the role of lawmakers in shaping the legal framework of society.
In practice
In a discussion on judicial activism, this quote can be used to emphasize the importance of adhering to the law as intended by its creators.
The notion that Congress can change the meaning given a constitutional provision by the Court is subversive of the function of judicial review; and it is not the less so because the Court promises to allow it only when the Constitution is moved to the left.
A society deadened by a smothering network of laws while finding release in moral chaos is not likely to be either happy or stable.
When a judge assumes the power to decide which distinctions made in a statute are legitimate and which are not, he assumes the power to disapprove of any and all legislation, because all legislation makes distinctions
We obey people we don't trust, to buy things we don't need, to impress people we don't like, using money we don't have, for gratifications that don't last, killing animals we don't hate, for pleasures that don't satisfy, dreaming of a life we don't deserve, and praying for an afterlife that doesn't exist, we are a stupid species
Truth is a pain which will not stop. And the truth of this world is to die. You must choose: either dying or lying. Personally, I have never been able to kill myself
I want to go ahead of Father Time with a scythe of my own.
Here was what Kilgore Trout cried out to me in my father's voice: "Make me young, make me young, make me young!
The philosophical question before us is, when we make an observation of our track in the past, does the result of our observation become real in the same sense that the final state would be defined if an outside observer were to make the observation?
Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, great as each may be, their highest comfort given to the sorrowful is a cordial introduction into another's woe. Sorrow's the great community in which all men born of woman are members at one time or another.
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