𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐉𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐬.

In a very recent judgment, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah of the Supreme Court has attempted to highlight the real role of the Supreme Court and its judges in the following words:

“Real role of the Supreme Court and its Judges.

24. The Supreme Court is not merely a forum for resolving disputes; it is the constitutional conscience of the nation, tasked with producing progressive and principled jurisprudence that breathes life into the Constitution and bridges the distance between law and the lived realities of the people. It is the ultimate guardian of fundamental rights and the final sentinel against executive or legislative overreach. Judges of this Court are not passive interpreters of text, they are the custodians of liberty, equality, and institutional independence. The Court must remain alive to the evolving aspirations of society and innovate new remedies to advance justice.

25. Judges are to act with integrity and courage, to resist all encroachments, external or internal that threaten to erode the autonomy of the judiciary or subvert the rule of law. Judges must not fall prey to the lure of small, short-term benefits, whether of elevation, power, or personal comfort that may accrue if they speak the language of authority rather than that of the Constitution. Such benefits are illusory and transient. The true reward of a judge lies in preserving the dignity of the institution and the trust of the people. It is also the solemn duty of judges
of this Court to call out, with moral clarity and institutional courage, those among their ranks who surrender to the power of the day at the cost of constitutional principles. Critique from within, when rooted in fidelity to the Constitution, is not disloyalty, it is the highest form of service to the judicial institution. History is a vigilant witness. It does not remember those who accommodated power, but those who stood resolute in defense of principle. The jurisprudential legacy of a judge is not built on appeasement but on principled defiance when the soul of justice is imperiled. Courts must never become tools of expediency. Rather, they must be lighthouses of constitutional morality and guardians of democratic integrity. History will not absolve judges who abandon their
constitutional duty; it will remember them not as dispensers of justice, but as collaborators in injustice.”

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