Legal Adaptability Quotes

The genius of the Constitution rests not in any static meaning it might have had in a world that is dead and gone, but in the adaptability of its great principles to cope with current problems and current needs.

A new world has come into being since the Constitution was adopted. Are the narrow, limited necessities of the old thirteen states ... to remain the rule of interpretations?

Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered.

Readiness to change from old law to new law enfeebles the power of the law.

The Constitution was made for an undefined and expanding future ... ... is not a fixed formula defined with finality at a particular time. It does not reflect, as a congealed summary, the social arrangements and beliefs of a particular epoch ... The effect of changes in men’s feelings for what is right and just is equally relevant in determining whether a discrimination denies the equal protection of the laws.

If facts are changing, law cannot be static.

Never underestimate the creativity of the American legal profession.

The Constitution is a total living document that can change quite a bit.

The law is not so much carved in stone as it is written in water, flowing in and out with the tide

The law is like rope...useful, necessary, strong, but it can be bent and twisted into all kinds of shapes depending on the occasion.

The Constitution is a living, breathing document that can speak to you and nobody else.