India, April 22 -- As the Supreme Court hears the Sabarimala reference, an old idea has returned to centre stage: Constitutional morality, the conscience that allows courts to navigate difficult terrain. But, like all consciences, it speaks more loudly in some moments than others.

The Constitution permits restrictions on certain rights (including the freedom of religion) on grounds of morality. The immediate question is, whose morality? Constitutional morality answers that by pointing inward, requiring courts to draw upon the values embedded in the Constitution itself, such as equality, dignity, and liberty. It requires that fundamental rights do not rise and fall with political or majoritarian sentiment.

The force of this idea is seen ...