"Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do"
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A judge doesn’t get to treat morality as a vibe. Potter Stewart’s line cuts with courtroom precision: legality is a boundary, ethics is a compass. The brilliance is the tension it names without resolving. Rights, especially in American civic religion, are framed as trump cards. Stewart reminds you they’re closer to permits: authorization from the state (or the Constitution) to act, not a moral endorsement of the act itself.
The specific intent reads like a warning aimed at citizens and officials alike. In a system that prizes adversarial combat, you can win on technicalities, exploit loopholes, or press your advantage to the edge of what the rules allow. The quote insists that “can” is not the same as “should,” and it does so in the idiom Stewart lived in: distinctions, categories, the disciplined parsing of terms. Ethics is not presented as lofty virtue; it’s basic literacy in limits.
The subtext is sharper: people reach for rights talk to launder self-interest into principle. “I have a right” becomes a moral shield, a way to end an argument rather than enter one. Stewart punctures that move. He also hints at the judiciary’s constraint: courts can often say what is permitted, not what is admirable. That gap is where democracy either matures or corrodes.
Context matters because Stewart served during an era when rights expanded dramatically while public trust and social cohesion were under strain. His sentence reads like a quiet admonition from inside the institution most associated with rights: don’t mistake the floor for the ceiling.
The specific intent reads like a warning aimed at citizens and officials alike. In a system that prizes adversarial combat, you can win on technicalities, exploit loopholes, or press your advantage to the edge of what the rules allow. The quote insists that “can” is not the same as “should,” and it does so in the idiom Stewart lived in: distinctions, categories, the disciplined parsing of terms. Ethics is not presented as lofty virtue; it’s basic literacy in limits.
The subtext is sharper: people reach for rights talk to launder self-interest into principle. “I have a right” becomes a moral shield, a way to end an argument rather than enter one. Stewart punctures that move. He also hints at the judiciary’s constraint: courts can often say what is permitted, not what is admirable. That gap is where democracy either matures or corrodes.
Context matters because Stewart served during an era when rights expanded dramatically while public trust and social cohesion were under strain. His sentence reads like a quiet admonition from inside the institution most associated with rights: don’t mistake the floor for the ceiling.
Quote Details
| Topic | Ethics & Morality |
|---|---|
| Source | Later attribution: The Ethics Challenge (Bob Stone, Mick Ukleja, 2009) modern compilationISBN: 9781600376085 · ID: LF48PopBdE8C
Evidence: ... Potter Stewart . Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do . Lessons from Chapter Fifteen Other People's Money • • • • Many leaders in business and finance have been helping themselves ... Other candidates (1) Potter Stewart (Potter Stewart) compilation47.4% ird congress second session 1974 but just because you have a right to do something doesnt mean its right to do it t |
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