Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has said that under the Constitution, the Supreme Court could take cognizance of a variety of situations to enforce fundamental rights and do substantive justice. Addressing the full court reference on Friday to bid farewell to retiring Justice Sair Ali, he said that the constitutionally ordained obligations of the court to exercise jurisdiction and take notice of infringements of fundamental rights were being projected in a negative light by certain individuals. This was a reference to Dr Babar Awans press conference disclosing that the federal government did not intend to set up the commission the Supreme Court had mandated on Memogate. Chief Justice Chaudhry was thus making it abundantly clear that this latest act of defiance would not go without notice. He also brought the debate towards its true tilt, the administration of justice, and it should be noted that the Memogate and other orders are not about any contest between the supporters and opponents of the President, but about the administration of justice. When he said that the Supreme Court had to give authoritative opinions on issues and questions of law and public importance, the Chief Justice was showing that the Supreme Court could not do what was needed to favour the President, which was to ignore them. This theme of doing justice was also behind his saying that the judges were performing their duties to the best of their ability for the entire judiciary was working on the disposal of cases, and thus was working harder than ever to ensuring the doing of justice. However, when he said that the armed forces were bound to perform the functions entrusted to them by the law and Constitution, he might be referring to the present situation, calling for the military to intervene to make the federal government obey the court orders. The Supreme Court has gone on a path of strict constitutionality. It needs to keep to this, but it will not by the mere talk of democracy being in danger. The danger to democracy is something that will be raised if the government has no other way of arguing for its own salvation. Governments must not depart from the path of constitutionality if they wish to remain on the same page of the SC. It should be realized that adherence to democracy is about obedience to the Constitution, and accepting that the Supreme Court is its ultimate arbiter.