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.
Robert BorkRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote critiques the idea that Congress can alter the judicial interpretation of the Constitution, suggesting this undermines judicial review.
Robert Bork's quote addresses the tension between legislative power and judicial interpretation within the context of the U.S. Constitution. He argues that if Congress has the ability to redefine constitutional provisions as interpreted by the Court, it threatens the very principle of judicial review. Bork expresses concern over the potential manipulation of constitutional meanings, particularly when such interpretations are aligned with a shift in progressive political ideology, highlighting the necessity for an independent judiciary to uphold constitutional integrity.
Themes
Judicial ReviewConstitutionCongressLawInterpretationPolitics
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a political debate to emphasize the importance of judicial independence.
More from Robert Bork
All quotes →A society deadened by a smothering network of laws while finding release in moral chaos is not likely to be either happy or stable.
Robert BorkRead
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
Robert BorkRead
Similar quotes
Men who have greatness within them don't go in for politics.
Albert CamusRead
But nobody ever forgot anything, not really, though sometimes they pretended, when it suited them. Memories were permanent. Sorrowful ones remained sad even with the passing of time, yet happy ones could never be recreated - not with the same joy. Remembering bred its own peculiar sorrow. It seemed so unfair: that time should render both sadness and happiness into a source of pain.
Rohinton MistryRead
Both dreams and myths are important communications from ourselves to ourselves. If we do not understand the language in which they are written, we miss a great deal of what we know and tell ourselves in those hours when we are not busy manipulating the outside world.
Erich FrommRead
Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight, At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more, When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death, And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.
C. S. LewisRead
Once you're labeled a felon, the old forms of discrimination - employment discrimination, housing discrimination, denial of the right to vote, denial of educational opportunity, denial of food stamps and other public benefits, and exclusion from jury service - are suddenly legal. As a criminal, you have scarcely more rights, and largely less respect, than a black man living in Alabama at the height of Jim Crow. We have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.
Michelle AlexanderRead
No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be; Am an attendant lord, one that will do To swell a progress, start a scene or two, Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool, Deferential, glad to be of use, Politic, cautious, and meticulous; Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse; At times, indeed, almost ridiculous— Almost, at times, the Fool.
T. S. EliotRead