The Constitution is a pantheon of values, and a lot of hard cases are hard because the Constitution gives no simple rule of decision for the cases in which one of the values is truly at odds with another.
David SouterRead
There is a danger to judicial independence when people have no understanding of how the judiciary fits into the constitutional scheme.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Judicial independence is at risk when the public lacks knowledge about the judiciary's role in the constitution.
David Souter's quote emphasizes the essential role of public understanding in maintaining the independence of the judiciary. When citizens do not grasp how the judicial system operates within the constitutional framework, it can lead to erosion of trust and challenges to judicial independence, which are crucial for upholding justice and democracy.
Themes
Judicial IndependencePublic UnderstandingConstitutionJusticeDemocracy
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of legal education for the public.
More from David Souter
All quotes βFor those whose exclusive norm of constitutional judging is merely fair reading of language applied to facts objectively viewed, 'Brown' must either be flat-out wrong or a very mystifying decision.
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The language of the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection of the laws did not change between 1896 and 1954, and it would be very hard to say that the obvious facts on which 'Plessy' was based had changed.
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The Constitution is no simple contract, not because it uses a certain amount of open-ended language, but because its language grants and guarantees many good things, and good things that compete with each other and can never all be realized, altogether, all at once.
David SouterRead
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