As a member of this court I am not justified in writing my private notions of policy into the Constitution, no matter how deeply I may cherish them or how mischievous I may deem their disregard.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the separation between personal beliefs and the responsibilities of a judicial member.
Felix Frankfurter highlights the importance of adhering to the Constitution and the rule of law over personal preferences. This statement reflects the principle that judges should not let their individual opinions influence their judicial decisions, ensuring that the law remains impartial and objective, rather than being swayed by personal feelings or biases.
In practice
During a legal conference discussing the role of judges in modern governance.
Ultimately there can be no freedom for self unless it is vouchsafed for others; there can be no security where there is fear, and a democratic society presupposes confidence and candor in the relations of men with one another and eager collaboration for the larger ends of life instead of the pursuit of petty, selfish or vainglorious aims.
The accretion of dangerous power does not come in a day. It does come, however slowly, from the generative force of unchecked disregard of the restrictions that fence in even the most disinterested assertion of authority.
Democracy is always a beckoning goal, not a safe harbor. For freedom is an unremitting endeavor, never a final achievement.
Without a free press there can be no free society. That is axiomatic. However, freedom of the press is not an end in itself but a means to the end of a free society. The scope and nature of the constitutional guarantee of the freedom of the press are to be viewed and applied in that light.
The words of the Constitution... are so unrestricted by their intrinsic meaning or by their history or by tradition or by prior decisions that they leave the individual Justice free, if indeed they do not compel him, to gather meaning not from reading the Constitution but from reading life.
Litigation is the pursuit of practical ends, not a game of chess.
One of the problems of modern society, or the post-Internet age, is that there are so many things bombarding us that we could care about. I think it's more important than ever to really get clear and focus on what's worth caring about and what's just noise or distraction.
There are few men who dare to publish to the world the prayers they make to Almighty God.
Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.
The Church is called to draw near to every person, beginning with the poorest and those who suffer.
Events of human origin are uncertain, but all is regulated and governed by the incalculable power of God, inspiring us not through drunken fury nor by frantic movement, but through the influences of the stars.
The result of the voyage does not depend on the speed of the ship, but on whether or not it keeps a true course.
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