In the work of Mauro Cappelletti, judicial review is intimately connected to social progress. In this short article, I will describe Cappelletti’s thinking on this dynamic relationship, which he developed in the second part of the twentieth century. I will then move from Cappelletti’s appreciative view of judicial review to contemporary European disturbances in the relationship between fundamental rights-based judicial review and the ideal of social progress. Against this background, I will pose a set of questions in response to Marta Cartabia’s article in this symposium, “Mauro Cappelletti: One of the ‘precious few’ of our generation.”