Ordered liberty

Ordered liberty is a phrase for the belief that freedom is best preserved within a framework of law, institutions and shared moral norms. In this view, liberty is neither the absence of all restraint nor a right to do whatever one pleases; it is the freedom to live well within a stable social order.

The phrase entered American law in Palko v. Connecticut (1937), where Justice Benjamin Cardozo described the protections that were incorporated against the states as those "implicit in the concept of ordered liberty," a standard used in the incorporation doctrine. As a political idea, it is common in conservative thought, which stresses that freedom depends on habits of self-government, family, religion and local institutions, in line with burkean conservatism and civil society.

Many conservatives use the term to push back against both unlimited state power and a purely individualist view of liberty. Libertarians accept the importance of law and norms but are wary of using government to enforce virtue. Critics on the left argue that appeals to order can justify restricting disfavored groups. The concept shows up in debates about speech, public morals and the rule of law.