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.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that the meaning of the Constitution should not be confined to its text or historical context, but rather should be interpreted through the experiences of life.
Felix Frankfurter suggests that a judge's interpretation of the Constitution should be informed by the realities and experiences of life rather than being strictly tethered to textual or historical analysis. This viewpoint allows for a more dynamic understanding of constitutional principles, advocating for a living interpretation that evolves with society. It highlights the role of individual experience and the need for justice to adapt to contemporary circumstances.
In practice
During a lecture on constitutional law, one might use this quote to illustrate the importance of contextual interpretation.
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.
Litigation is the pursuit of practical ends, not a game of chess.
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.
To deal with the true causes of war one must begin by recognizing as of prime relevancy to the solution of the problem the familiar fact that civilization is a partial, incomplete, and, to a great extent, superficial modification of barbarism.
I grew up in traditional black patriarchal culture and there is no doubt that I’m going to take a great many unconscious, but present, patriarchal complicities to the grave because it so deeply ensconced in how I look at the world. Therefore, very much like alcoholism, drug addiction, or racism patriarchy is a disease and we are in perennial recovery and relapse. So you have to get up every morning and struggle against it.
The commandment to refrain from placing blame on our parents, deeply imprinted in us by our upbringing, skillfully performs the function of hiding essential truths from us.
Show me a completely smooth operation and I'll show you someone who's covering mistakes. Real boats rock.
All animals are to be found in men and each of theme exists in some man, sometimes several at the time.
The meaning in life is not out there but inbetween our ears. In many ways this makes us the lords of creation.
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