"Our runaway judiciary is badly in need of restraint by Congress"
About this Quote
A phrase like "runaway judiciary" is political branding masquerading as constitutional diagnosis. Schlafly isn’t neutrally critiquing court overreach; she’s framing judges as an unruly force that has slipped the leash of democratic control, and she’s doing it with a word that implies danger, speed, and irresponsibility. "Runaway" turns the judiciary from an institution into a problem to be captured. It primes the listener to see court decisions not as interpretations of law but as unauthorized acts demanding correction.
The second move is tactical: "restraint by Congress" sounds procedural, even sober, as if she’s simply proposing checks and balances. Subtext: the people (via elected legislators) should reclaim authority from unelected elites. That populist contrast - accountable lawmakers versus insulated judges - is the emotional engine of the line. It converts frustration with specific outcomes into a broader story about legitimacy.
Context matters because Schlafly’s activism was built around resisting liberal social change, from feminism to abortion rights to the perceived cultural drift of the postwar era. Courts were often the instrument of those changes: school desegregation, privacy jurisprudence, rights expansions. By calling for congressional restraint, she’s not just arguing a theory of governance; she’s advocating a route to roll back decisions she saw as culturally destabilizing. The genius, and the danger, is that the line invites listeners to treat independent courts as an enemy faction rather than a co-equal branch, turning constitutional tension into a rallying cry.
The second move is tactical: "restraint by Congress" sounds procedural, even sober, as if she’s simply proposing checks and balances. Subtext: the people (via elected legislators) should reclaim authority from unelected elites. That populist contrast - accountable lawmakers versus insulated judges - is the emotional engine of the line. It converts frustration with specific outcomes into a broader story about legitimacy.
Context matters because Schlafly’s activism was built around resisting liberal social change, from feminism to abortion rights to the perceived cultural drift of the postwar era. Courts were often the instrument of those changes: school desegregation, privacy jurisprudence, rights expansions. By calling for congressional restraint, she’s not just arguing a theory of governance; she’s advocating a route to roll back decisions she saw as culturally destabilizing. The genius, and the danger, is that the line invites listeners to treat independent courts as an enemy faction rather than a co-equal branch, turning constitutional tension into a rallying cry.
Quote Details
| Topic | Justice |
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