Constitutional Morality: An Indian Framework.

The article focuses on the concept of constitutional morality (CM) as developed and applied by Indian courts over the past decade, examining its intellectual origins, judicial interpretations, and implications for Indian constitutional law. It traces CM’s roots to historical thinkers like George Grote and B. R. Ambedkar, highlighting Ambedkar’s view of CM as a citizen attitude essential for democracy’s success but insufficient alone to achieve self-government. Indian courts have formulated two main judicial accounts of CM: (i) the deeming principle, where CM serves as a fiction anchoring the meaning of “morality” in constitutional adjudication, guiding restrictions on fundamental rights based on constitutional values rather than popular morality; and (ii) the political ethics principle, which imposes an obligation on constitutional actors and institutions to follow ethical political practices, especially where the law is silent, to uphold democratic governance and the rule of law. The article critiques the courts’ inconsistent articulation of CM’s content and subject, their monopolization of its interpretation without broader institutional engagement, and the fractured judicial consensus on its applicability. Despite these challenges, CM has gained prominence beyond the judiciary, influencing legislative and executive discourse and becoming a significant element in India’s constitutional and political imagination.