This chapter sets out the theme of this work as illustrated by the US and comparative law cases analysed in this monograph. That theme concerns the proper role of the courts in safeguarding and perpetuating substantive human rights consistent with democratic principle. In so doing the courts must resist those voices both from within and outside of the judiciary that attempt to reframe core fundamental democratic rights matters as essentially socio-cultural and political ‘culture wars.’ The latter reframing, as we will discover through the cases here discussed, too often leads to judgements that are not well grounded legally, that undercut bedrock democratic ideals and that weaken constitutional protections for the vulnerable.