Academic literature on the topic 'Role of constitutional courts'

AbstractThe 1993 Russian Constitution and 1994 Federal Constitutional Law “On the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation” define the jurisdiction and activity of the Federal Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. However, these pieces of legislation do not comprehensively address all the issues, and there has been some broadening of the Court's power through interpretation and the effect of some other legislation. This article examines the Court's jurisdiction and some of the issues that arise in the exercise thereof, as well as the relative role of the constitutional or charter courts of the subjects of the Federation, and the relationship between the Constitutional Court and the other courts in the Russian federal system. Issues of the methods of constitutional interpretation are addressed. The importance of the Constitutional Court as the federal agency of constitutional court supervision (review) in ensuring the effective application of the Russian Constitution is highlighted in the context of this growth of a comparatively new branch of law in the Russian legal system.

The Constitutional Court (MK) has a strategic position, authority, and obligation to determine the future of the Indonesian nation. This study aims to examine the educational role of the Constitutional Court in developing a constitutional understanding of Indonesian citizens constitutionally. This research used doctrinal legal research method, a process to find the rule of law, legal principles, and legal doctrines to answer the legal problems faced. The results showed the educative role of the Constitutional Court in fostering constitutional understanding of Indonesian citizens by creating programs to promote constitutional understanding of Indonesian citizens, i.e.: increasing the understanding of citizens' constitutional rights; disseminating information on the Constitutional Court, and development of constitutional awareness culture.; debate on student constitutions between universities throughout indonesia; telling the values of Pancasila on social media; and increasing understanding of the constitutional rights of civics with outstanding teachers; and educating people's attention. The Constitutional Court's products in the form of decisions contain public education on compliance with the Constitution correctly and rationally. The Constitutional Court's decision will always be linked to the public with the Constitution and the interests of justice seekers because the court examines the interests of justice seekers related to the Constitution.

Abstract In composed and decentralised states, sub-national entities and (ethnic, linguistic, racial) minorities ought to play a determinant role in the process of appointment of constitutional courts justices to obtain a balanced representation in the guardian of the constitution. The necessary appearance of constitutional justice independence can be at stake without a proportionated participation of minorities and sub-national entities in the court. It is not enough to introduce a symbolic presence. The first section of this essay analyses the transcendence and political-legal significance that the system of appointment of constitutional court judges has and its relation to the separation of powers (horizontal and vertical). The second section is a return to the roots, ie the system of appointment the Austrian Constitution of 1920, even that first constitutional court was created in 1919, and Kelsen’s theory on federalism. The third section carries out an analysis from a comparative constitutional law perspective by using as an analytical basis the reports on the composition of the Constitutional Courts of the European Commission for Democracy through Law. The paper ends with a reflection on Schmitt considerations on the Guardians of Constitutions.

Today in Europe there is a complex system of protection of individual rights based on different sources of law and respectively with a different procedure for their defence, but with common constitutional legal root. The “catalogue” of basic rights in constitutions served as inspiration for the drafters of the International act in the field of human rights, whilst in the constitutional legislative process usually the legislator turns to the established International Human Rights Standards. Constitutional courts participate in the promotion and development of human rights standards through their case-law. The references in the past 30 years, the amendments of chapter eight of the Constitution and the case-law of the Constitutional court of the Republic of Bulgaria show that it has a roles as human rights court. However, the system of constitutional review could be improved with the facilitation of the ordinary courts in the direct application of the Basic law on cases. One of the possible measures is the legal education in the field of human rights protection and the availability of scientific legal publications in service of the practicing lawyers.

By most accounts, the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization signaled a broader stagnation (and perhaps retrenchment) of federal substantive due process protections. As a result, there is now great interest in the role that state constitutions and courts might play in protecting and expanding reproductive and privacy rights. This Article aims to place this moment in state constitutional development in broader context. It makes two core claims in this regard. First, although state courts are free to interpret state constitutions as providing broader individual rights protections than those contained in the Federal Constitution, state constitutions have not materialized as a robust source of counter-majoritarian rights during earlier periods of federal rights stagnation. To the contrary, state constitutional rights tend to conform with popular sentiment regarding rights because they are heavily mediated by various processes of popular constitutionalism (such as popular election, recall, and retention of state judges, and the initiative and referendum). From this point of view, state constitutional rights have limited potential in protecting political minorities from abusive popular majorities. However, this Article’s second claim is that state constitutional rights are well-situated to address many contemporary rights battles precisely because of their majoritarian nature. Many extant rights conflicts are between statewide popular majorities that support rights expansion and misaligned state governments looking to disregard or evade popular preferences. State constitutional rights are better situated to address this problem than the problem of abusive popular majorities. The challenge for contemporary state courts in this moment is to articulate an independent rights jurisprudence that accounts for the popular nature of state constitutional rights rather than parrot the counter-majoritarian jurisprudence of the United States Supreme Court, which is largely inapposite when adjudicating state constitutional rights. The Article concludes by offering some preliminary thoughts on how state courts might approach today’s rights disputes under state constitutions.

The way in which the security of the State and its democratic institutions, human rights, and the safety of its officials and population are protected in emergency situations constitutes one of the benchmarks of the rule of law. From this perspective, the role of the constitutional courts is a prominent one since the courts are the guarantor of the Constitution, as a fundamental law enshrining all the values and rules of organizing and functioning of the public authorities. In Romania, both the Constitutional Court and the ordinary tribunals have encountered numerous requests from individuals. The citizens have challenged and questioned the acts of public authorities, raising sensitive issues, balancing competing fundamental rights, and, finally, the rule of law as a general principle enshrined in article 1 of the Constitution. In our study, we will present the case law of the Romanian Constitutional Court which is more relevant for the role of this court and constitutional courts in general in protecting democratic values in the context of emergencies, with special reference to the relationship and powers of the public authorities.

The article discusses the issue of the Constitutional Court’s and other courts’ application of the principle of ignorantia iuris nocet in the practice of issuing rulings. Based on the analysis of the case law, it presents the Constitutional Court’s standpoint concerning the role of the principle of ignorantia iuris nocet in the Polish system of law and its application in the Constitutional Court’s case law. At the same time, it discusses other courts’ application of this principle, i.e. its influence on the decision-making processes of the application of law by the Supreme Court, courts of appeal and administrative courts. The analysis of the case law show that the principle of ignorantia iuris nocet plays a special role in the Polish system of law. In their decisions, both the Constitutional Court and other courts concerned emphasise that the Polish system of law, like other contemporary systems of law, is based on this principle, and its violence would lead to unpredictable results in the practice of issuing rulings. There are no major differences between the application of the principle of ignorantia iuris nocet by the Constitutional Court and other courts concerned. In cases involving the ignorance of the law, both the Constitutional Court and other courts commonly recognise and apply, within the scope of their competence, the principle of ignorantia iuris nocet. Administrative law takes a particular stance on the application of this principle. In the Supreme Administrative Court’s judicature, a jurisdictional approach has been adopted that recognises that the operation of this principle is reduced in administrative procedure. In turn, the study of the case law of provincial administrative courts shows that these courts still have not adopted a uniform jurisdictional pattern in this respect.

This article examines the relationship between the role of the superior courts as upper guardians of minors and the constitutionally enshrined right of South African children to have their best interests considered paramount in any matter concerning them. The powerful procedural role of the superior courts in this regard is not subject to review or appeal, enabling the courts to intervene of their own accord on behalf of and to protect all children in their jurisdiction. The article examines whether this upper guardianship role has become superfluous and outdated in light of the constitutional requirement that courts consider the paramountcy of the child’s best interests as an independent right. The High Court’s upper guardianship role provides a more flexible legal basis for judicial intervention, as the case law reviewed in this article indicates. It is also supported by s 173 of the Constitution, which refers to the inherent powers of courts to protect and regulate their own process and to develop the common law, and by s 45(4) of the Children’s Act. Furthermore, the superior courts, as courts of record, enable the development of a system of precedent-based child law, providing judicial reasons for all decisions and justifying the retention of the common-law inherent jurisdiction of the High Court as the upper guardian of children. We conclude that there is a residual role for the continued existence of the powers of the superior courts to act as upper guardians of the children within their jurisdiction, the constitutional best-interests standard notwithstanding.

Article 165 (3) (d) of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 gives the High Court the power of constitutional interpretation and to uphold constitutional supremacy by declaring void any law that is inconsistent with the Constitution or invalid any act or omission contravening it. Within the current Kenyan context, judicial review of legislative action has become the common practice. The courts are constantly drawn into the realm of legislative matters at the national and devolved levels of government established under the Constitution. However, the High Court’s role is limited to interpretation only and it cannot compel Parliament to modify the legislative action contravening the Constitution. Conversely, where the Legislature disagrees with the Court’s assessment of what the constitutional norms require it cannot substitute the Court’s interpretation with its own. The courts are subsequently tasked with the delicate prospect of balancing the legal and political constraints that underlie any case of judicial review of legislative action. This paper develops a conceptual framework for assessing how courts, in general, go about exercising their power of judicial review of legislative action in a way that enables them to adhere to the requirements of the separation of powers doctrine, while considering the legal and political constraints under which they must operate. The resulting framework proposes four possible types of courts that may emerge based on how a court balances the legal and political constraints prevailing upon it.

In December 2023, 30 years have passed since the adoption of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The positions of the constitutional control bodies have always played and continue to play an important role in the development of antimonopoly legislation and law enforcement practice in cases of protection of competition. In the practice of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation (CC of Russia) and a number of other law enforcement officers, competition is considered in the context of the constitutional value that all law enforcement officers, including antimonopoly authorities and courts, are obliged to protect. In the constitutions of a number of foreign countries, there is often no direct indication of the need to protect competition, which increases the role of the highest courts in creating a legal mechanism for its protection. The authors analyze the law enforcement practice of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation established after 2018 on the application of antimonopoly legislation and the influence of the positions of the supreme constitutional control body on the development of Russian competition law.

The thesis is a comparative legal analysis of environmental principles in environmental law. Environmental principles are novel concepts in environmental law and they have a high profile in environmental law scholarship. This high profile is promoted by two factors – the high hopes that environmental law scholars have for environmental principles, and the increasing prevalence of environmental principles in legal systems, particularly in case law. This thesis analyses the latter, mapping doctrinal developments involving environmental principles in two jurisdictions and court systems – the courts of the European Union and the New South Wales Land and Environment Court. This doctrinal mapping has both narrow and broad aims. Narrowly, it identifies the legal roles in fact taken on by environmental principles within legal systems. Broadly, and building on this assessment, it responds to scholarly hopes that environmental principles (can) perform a range of significant roles in environmental law, including solving both environmental problems and legal problems in environmental law scholarship. These hopes are based on assumptions about environmental principles that have methodological weaknesses, including that environmental principles are universal and that they fit pre-existing models of ‘legal principles’ drawn from other areas of legal scholarship. The thesis exposes these methodological problems and concludes that environmental principles are not panaceas for pressing and perceived problems in environmental law. It does this by showing that the legal roles of environmental principles, which are significant in environmental law and its current evolution, can only be understood by closely analysing the legal cultures in which they feature. This is a conclusion for environmental law scholarship generally – while environmental issues and problems may be urgent and often global, legal analysis of the law that applies to those problems requires close engagement with legal systems and cultures, as they are and as they develop.

This thesis examines the role of legal institutions in enforcing the Environment Conservation Act in Bangladesh. Applying the legal analytical method, it analyses in public law perspective how the Department of Environment, the High Court Division of Bangladesh Supreme Court, and the Special environmental courts enforce this law. The thesis argues that these legal institutions can enforce the law effectively if they adhere to the rule of law norms, particularly legitimacy, fairness, and justice in adopting environmental legal actions and measures. Effective enforcement of the law also requires strengthening of accountability systems to check breaches of such norms.

Comparative studies of the European Union have been hampered by the fact that many political scientists treat the EU as a ‘sui generis’ entity, with no historical precedent or comparative example. Those who view the EU as something closer to a state than to an international organisation have struggled to find a workable definition encompassing the many, seemingly contradictory, aspects of the European system. This dissertation therefore begins by asserting the need for a new definition of the European Union, one that allows for comparison within a theoretical framework to advance our understanding of the EU and of its states in general. It then proposes a new definition, that of the ‘federalist state’ - a polity with some, but not all, of the hallmarks of a federation. A federalist state is not a federation, and it may not evolve into one; rather, it is a polity with a fundamental divide in its self-understanding. A broad consensus in the population does not exist on either the existence or the meaning of the critical elements of federation: the supremacy of the constitution; the role of the court; the relationship between the individual to the federal government; the right or, lack thereof, to secede; and even the meaning of federalism itself. The first part of this dissertation, Chapters I to III, will analyse these criteria for federation and demonstrate that the ante-bellum United States and the European Union can be classified as federalist states. The second part of the dissertation uses this theoretical framework to provide a foundation for a comparative analysis of the role of the constitutional court in each polity. In Chapters IV and V, the roles of the Supreme Court in the United States and the European Court of Justice in the European Union will be assessed and shown to be similar in effect: the public actions of the judges and their decisions in key constitutional cases demonstrate a consistent support for the elements of federation that are unresolved within the federalist state. Finally, the conclusion assesses some potential explanations for why the courts functioned as promoters of federation. In addition, it assesses the value of this theoretical framework for future comparative studies.

Defence date: 22 January 2007
Examining board: Prof. Pilar Domingo (Universidad de Salamanca) ; Prof. Carlo Guarnieri (Università di Bologna) ; Prof. Donatella Della Porta (European University Institute) ; Prof. Philippe C. Schmitter (European University Institute)(Supervisor)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
Until recently, Courts were not an important component of political science research on Latin America. The quantity of research on the judiciary does not compare even remotely to the vast literature on others institutions. However, despite the relative inattention to their role, courts are institutions whose performance has concrete and relevant effects on the socio-political system. Indeed, Courts have currently emerged as active participants in the political process offering new opportunities to citizens, social movements, interest groups, and politicians. Focusing on three countries of Central America (Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Guatemala), this dissertation illustrates how far the political system in these countries is shaped in significant ways by the role of Courts as political institutions. Throughout a comparative approach, this study offers what may be the first cross-national analysis explicitly designed to serve as a comprehensive measure of the political role of High Courts.

An important but challenging development appears to be occurring in the character of some constitutional courts—a shift from their traditional role as a negative legislator to a significant role as a positive legislator. Under this shift, a constitutional court is no longer confined to declaring the unconstitutionality of statutes if they are contrary to the constitution and simply annulling them, but rather takes on a positive power to create statute law. The case study examined here is the power to fill the gaps caused by unconstitutional legislative omissions (ULOs). Such a power authorises a constitutional court to declare what a missing law should contain, and to draft and promulgate that law, thus assuming the role of positive legislators by enacting temporary or provisional rules on specific matters. This development in the power of constitutional courts provokes vital questions. Why has such a role developed? What are its most important manifestations? What are the benefits and risks of such powers? Do the benefits outweigh the risks, and how might benefits be maximised and risks minimised? In response to these questions, this study provides a deeper understanding of the apparent shift in constitutional courts’ power from negative to positive legislator, and its implications for countries struggling with establishment and maintenance of democracy. The study applies lessons from international experience of powers to rectify ULOs in 17 countries, to examine whether such powers help address these challenges in more legal systems, and if so, how. It finds that some forms of such a power do have a positive contribution to make in response to serious constitutional challenges, but two things are required: a general recognition that the traditional understanding of a constitutional court as a purely negative legislator is no longer sufficient to explain and evaluate its role, once entrusted with such a power; and a new approach to the design of such a power, such as developed and applied in this thesis, which enables this ‘positive legislator’ role to be granted in a manner that still protects core values of liberal democracy.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Govt & Int Relations
Griffith Business School
Full Text

This study is concerned with demonstrating the importance of the Supreme Court in the constitutional system of the United Arab Emirates, discovering its possible contributions to constitutional development and recommending measures to improve the effectiveness of the Court. A brief analysis of the modern history of the United Arab Emirates and an outline of the characteristics of this country and its society are provided. The constitutional history of the country is given, with specific emphasis on the process of drafting the current constitution. The role of constitutional courts in federal systems, their contributions to and the theoretical basis for participation in the development and maintenance of, constitutional systems is discussed. This study includes a fairly detailed analysis of the arguments about the role of the U.S. Supreme Court and the American Federal judiciary in practising judicial review, and the authority of judicial interpretations of the constitution. The West German experience in judicial review and its effects on federalism is analysed. The constitutional system of the United Arab Emirates and the position and competence of its Supreme Court is evaluated. A detailed study is provided of the development of the jurisprudence of the court since its establishment. Findings and recommendations aimed at improving the contribution of the Supreme Court in the constitutional system of the United Arab Emirates are provided.

AbstractThe Supreme Courts in all the Nordic countries reserve, and exercise, the power to set aside unconstitutional laws. In this way, they protect the rule of law and the human rights that are enshrined in their national constitutions. However, they go about this in different ways and treat different constitutional rights in ways distinct from one another. In this chapter, I discuss the development of the diversified judicial review of legislation in the Nordic countries. I also discuss the independence of their judiciaries in the light of the latest developments in Europe. Finally, I discuss the importance of developing standards for the interpretation of case law on these constitutional issues. Recent development brings with it two consequences for Nordic courts: the task of assessing the independence of judiciaries in other EU states, and questions about how the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary can be strengthened at home.

AbstractThe European Court of Justice plays a critical role in the integration process. National constitutional courts have to come to terms with the primacy and direct effect of EU law. Current restrictions on the judicial authority of the Court should be lifted. The Charter of Fundamental Rights has potential yet to be reached. Only full respect for the rule of law will allow the European Court of Justice to evolve into a federal supreme court, with wider access for the citizen on appeal.

AbstractSentenza 238/2014 once more highlights the important role domestic courts play in international law. More than prior examples, it illustrates the ever more autonomous and self-confident stance of domestic courts on the international plane. But the ruling of the Italian Constitutional Court (ItCC) also shows that more engagement with international law does not necessarily mean that domestic courts enhance the effectiveness of international law and become ‘compliance partners’ of international courts. Sentenza 238/2014 suggests that domestic courts, in times of global governance and increased activity of international courts, see the role they play at the intersection of legal orders also as ‘gate-keepers’, ready to cushion the domestic impact of international law if deemed necessary. The judgment of the ItCC thus offers a new opportunity to examine the multifaceted and complex role of these important actors that apply and shape international law, while always remaining bound by domestic (constitutional) law. This chapter does so by exploring how domestic courts deal with rulings of the World Court. It shows that despite the fact that in numerous situations domestic courts could act as compliance partners of the International Court of Justice, in reality, more often than not, they have refused to do so, arguing that its judgments are not self-executing and thus deferring the implementation to the political branches. Assessing this practice, the chapter argues that domestic courts should take a more active stance and overcome the purely interstate view that seems at odds with present-day international law. While it seems too far-reaching to expect domestic courts to follow international courts unconditionally, the chapter cautions that there is a considerable risk of setting dangerous precedents by openly defying international judgments. Domestic courts should carefully balance the different interests at stake, namely an effective system of international adjudication on the one hand and the protection of fundamental domestic principles on the other hand. The chapter finds that the ItCC’s attempt to reintroduce clear boundaries between legal orders lacks the openness and flexibility needed to effectively cope with today’s complex and plural legal reality.

This chapter explores the constitutional founding and road to independence in the post-colonial states of Malaysia and Singapore. It provides the historical context for understanding the constitution’s text and the foundations of the constitutional framework. Understanding the broader purposes that motivated the constitutional project provides us with the context necessary to interpret the constitutional text. For example, Malaysia’s constitutionalization of Islam as the state religion was part of a social contract memorialized in a constitutional bargain that also sought to protect minorities and individuals. This historical context is vital for understanding the role that religion would play in the new constitutional order. More generally, the constitutions of Malaysia and Singapore set in place an overarching framework for governance that envisaged continuing constitutional construction in these independent democracies. Rather than mandating a narrow focus on the framer’s specific expectations, as reflected by the Singapore Court of Appeal’s originalist approach, constitutional history helps reveal the foundational elements of a polity that can guide a contemporary adjudication approach. Faithfulness to the constitution calls for a deeper understanding of the foundational principles that underlie its structure and rights guarantees.

The coronavirus pandemic COVID-19, which also affected the Czech Republic, had a major impact on all areas of activity, including the activities of the Constitutional Court. The persons concerned turned to the Constitutional Court both through constitutional complaints and motions to repeal the regulation. Thus, the Constitutional Court first had to deal with the definition of individual legal forms of measures issued by public administration bodies to prevent or mitigate the spread of a pandemic and the possibility of judicial review of these measures. In my contribution, I will therefore focus on these aspects, which I will define in specific court decisions. The decision of the Constitutional Court was not always unanimous, and therefore I will also mention the different opinions of some judges of the Constitutional Court. Nevertheless, the decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic have a fundamental influence on the decisions of other courts and the issuance of measures by public administration bodies.

Unlike the “pioneer” constitutions, which contained guarantees of personal and political rights in their provisions, newer constitutions, or constitutions of the 20th century, began to guarantee social and economic rights in their provisions, and among them soon appeared the right to a healthy environment. Similar to the constitutions of other new democracies, the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia belongs to the ranks of environmentally conscious constitutions. The right to a healthy environment was part of the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Croatia from 1974, and after the establishment of the independent and sovereign Republic of Croatia, it became part of the Constitution of 1990. In Croatia, since the very beginning of independence, the conservation of nature and the human environment have been included in the category of the highest values of the constitutional order (Article 3), which represent the foundation for the interpretation of the Constitution. In the part of the Constitution that refers to human rights and fundamental freedoms, we find provisions on restrictions of entrepreneurial freedom and property rights in order to protect nature, the environment and human health, then on special protection of the state to all things and goods of special ecological significance. It is also clearly prescribed that everyone has the right to a healthy life, and that the state has a certain responsibility for environmental protection. The Constitutional Court takes care of the protection of constitutionality and the protection of environmental rights. The aim of this paper is to analyze how the constitutions of the new democracies relate to environmental protection, whether the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia is really a “green” Constitution, and based on the analysis of the previous practice of the Constitutional Court in environmental cases, reach a conclusion about the approach and the role of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia as a protector of the right to healthy environment.

Communication between public authorities can be defined as one that has every chance of evolving in the direction of strengthening democracy and protecting human rights, an important role belonging to the Constitutional Court, which step by step outlines the constitutional identity of the Republic of Moldova. The analysis of the factual material leads us to the definition of communication between public authorities both at the level of the Parliament, the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Justice, first instance judicial bodies as one that constantly evolves in the direction of strengthening protecting human rights. That communication results in the triumph constitutional fundamental values, including freedom, equality, democracy, the rule of law. Gradualy Constitutional Court acquires institutional stature and moral authority to defend people from legislative abuses, that is, in fact, to protect the legislator from himself when there is a clear or masked tendency to violate the Constitution. In this way the Court combats the deterioration of the legislation, with the aim that it not to become a source of uncertainty for litigants. In these efforts, public institutions that cooperate loyally contribute not only to the protection of human rights, but also influence the level democracy in the state, reflecting at the individual level in the awareness of the rights to have rights and that documents about rights are not formal, but the even pave the way for the claim and, moreover, there are effective remedies in case of their violation.

At the centre of this article is the Simmenthal line of cases of the Court of Justice of the European Union, which establish the duty of every national court or administrative authority not to apply any national law that conflicts with the EU law. The article provides a brief overview of the evolution of the Simmenthal case law at the EU level. It then proceeds to assess how Simmenthal is applied at national level through comparative analysis of experience from Germany and Latvia. A particular emphasis in that regard is placed on the role of constitutional courts, as well as on the role of administrative authorities. Research from both countries points to a general adherence to the obligation established by Simmenthal. However, it also indicates certain discrepancies in national legislation, which obscure strict application of Simmenthal, especially for national administrations. Particularly in Latvia administration is not entitled to disapply national law on its own motion, whereas – explicitly following the Simmenthal doctrine – it would (theoretically) be entitled to do so in Germany.

The paper explores the role of the constitutional review and the constitutional court in the harmonisation of modern democracy through the prism of various aspects, including newly created theories, principles, tests and other legal methods. The article will look at the dynamics of constitutional control exercised by the Constitutional Court of Latvia and the methods applied to it, as well as developments in constitutional control in times of challenges and threats to modern democracy. The thesis set out in the paper is an insight into a much broader theme that will be discussed in greater detail in the doctoral thesis by the author of the paper.

В настоящем исследовании анализируется роль и место Конституционного суда РФ. This study analyzes the role and place of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and its formation as a separate body outside the judicial system.

This rapid review looks at various constitutional courts established in transitional, fragile and conflict-affected contexts—the approaches adopted, sequencing in their establishment, and experiences with political support. There are few comprehensive accounts in the literature, however, of constitutional courts and their role in judicial review in the contexts of transition and/or as key actors in ‘building democracy’ (Daly, 2017a; Sapiano, 2017). Further, scholars have tended to focus on a relatively small number of case studies from the immediate post-Cold War era, such as South Africa and Colombia (Daly, 2017a). Discussion on the sequencing and steps adopted in establishing a constitutional court in fragile and conflict-affected states (FCAS), or on incentives that have swayed political elites to support these courts, is even more limited. Nonetheless, drawing on various academic and NGO literature, including on countries that transitioned from authoritarianism, this report offers some discussion on sequencing in relation to the constitution-making process and the establishment of the courts; and general reasoning for why constitutional courts may be supported by political actors.

The 1991 Colombian Constitution strengthened the checks and balances of the political system by enhancing the role of Congress and the Constitutional Court, while somewhat limiting the powers of the President (who nonetheless remains extremely powerful even by Latin American standards). As a consequence of the larger number of relevant players, and the removal of barriers that restricted political participation, the political system has gained in terms of representation. However, political transaction costs have increased, making cooperation harder to achieve. The authors show that this has been typically the case in fiscal policy, where the use of rigid rules, the constitutionalization of some policies, and a reduction in legislative success rates-due to the presence of a more divided and fragmented Congress-have limited the adaptability and flexibility of policies. In contrast, in other areas of policy that were formally delegated to the technocracy, policies have been more adaptable to economic shocks, delivering better outcomes.

In Gideon v. Wainwright, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the government must provide a criminal defense lawyer for any accused person who cannot afford one. But for too many people, Gideon's promise remains unfulfilled. In Texas, there are no statewide guidelines about who is entitled to a court-appointed lawyer. Instead, counties create their own rules that create serious gaps in constitutional protection. Getting Gideon Right investigates the financial standards that determine an accused person's eligibility for appointed counsel in Texas county courts. The report reveals a patchwork of county court policies that are both complex and severe.

As artificial intelligence transforms the economy and American society, it will also transform the practice of law and the role of courts in regulating its use. What role should, will, or might judges play in addressing the use of AI? And relatedly, how will AI and machine learning impact judicial practice in federal and state courts? This report is intended to provide a framework for judges to address AI.

This electronic resource contains a critical summary of the problems of sovereign statehood and the responsibility of public authority in the light of an interdisciplinary systemic organic approach. The author reveals the essence and content of the categories “sovereign statehood” and “responsibility of public authority” as key factors of the state legal system for ensuring the life of the Russian Federation in the conditions of the emergence of a new world order. It is shown that the multi-valued category of “statehood” (statehood, stateness, nationhood, nationness) reflects the complexity of the concept, which characterizes the status and ability of the state to carry out its functions, and on the other hand, reflects the cultural-historical and spiritual-ideological unity of society, which is the deepest internal semantic content both preceding the state and completing its sociohistorical formation in the course of state development and historical transformations. Based on the systemic-organic approach and within the framework of the structure of the Aristotelian tetrad, the author reveals an integral model of the political and legal phenomenon of “statehood”, in which the final cause (ethion) is determined by “sovereign statehood”, which presupposes unity, integrity, actual autonomy, independence, independence and self-sufficiency states in making decisions that ensure the historical existence and development of the country. The work presents a theoretical understanding of social (public) solidarity as a legal construct and instrument of social harmony and integrity of the state-legal body of the Russian Federation. It is shown that public solidarity, as a constitutional and administrative-legal phenomenon in its positive and negative forms, creates the necessary basis for the implementation of the principle of mutual responsibility of the individual, society and state. An idea of the responsibilities of the state, its bodies and officials to the individual and society is given, the role and place of public legal responsibility of holders of power in the solidary social mechanism is outlined. In general, the results of interdisciplinary research are aimed at identifying key factors in social theory and practice that contribute to the acquisition of true independence and self-sufficiency of Russian statehood and the preservation of the civilizational foundations of a multinational Russian society. The manual will be useful to undergraduate and graduate students studying social and political sciences, and anyone interested in the theory and practice of government.

Banco de la República is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2023. This is a very significant anniversary and one that provides an opportunity to highlight the contribution the Bank has made to the country’s development. Its track record as guarantor of monetary stability has established it as the one independent state institution that generates the greatest confidence among Colombians due to its transparency, management capabilities, and effective compliance with the central banking and cultural responsibilities entrusted to it by the Constitution and the Law. On a date as important as this, the Board of Directors of Banco de la República (BDBR) pays tribute to the generations of governors and officers whose commitment and dedication have contributed to the growth of this institution.1 Banco de la República’s mandate was confirmed in the National Constitutional Assembly of 1991 where the citizens had the opportunity to elect the seventy people who would have the task of drafting a new constitution. The leaders of the three political movements with the most votes were elected as chairs to the Assembly, and this tripartite presidency reflected the plurality and the need for consensus among the different political groups to move the reform forward. Among the issues considered, the National Constitutional Assembly gave special importance to monetary stability. That is why they decided to include central banking and to provide Banco de la República with the necessary autonomy to use the instruments for which they are responsible without interference from other authorities. The constituent members understood that ensuring price stability is a state duty and that the entity responsible for this task must be enshrined in the Constitution and have the technical capability and institutional autonomy necessary to adopt the decisions they deem appropriate to achieve this fundamental objective in coordination with the general economic policy. In particular, Article 373 established that “the State, through Banco de la República, shall ensure the maintenance of the purchasing power of the currency,” a provision that coincided with the central banking system adopted by countries that have been successful in controlling inflation. In 1999, in Ruling 481, the Constitutional Court stated that “the duty to maintain the purchasing power of the currency applies to not only the monetary, credit, and exchange authority, i.e., the Board of Banco de la República, but also those who have responsibilities in the formulation and implementation of the general economic policy of the country” and that “the basic constitutional purpose of Banco de la República is the protection of a sound currency. However, this authority must take the other economic objectives of state intervention such as full employment into consideration in their decisions since these functions must be coordinated with the general economic policy.” The reforms to Banco de la República agreed upon in the Constitutional Assembly of 1991 and in Act 31/1992 can be summarized in the following aspects: i) the Bank was assigned a specific mandate: to maintain the purchasing power of the currency in coordination with the general economic policy; ii) the BDBR was designatedas the monetary, foreign exchange, and credit authority; iii) the Bank and its Board of Directors were granted a significant degree of independence from the government; iv) the Bank was prohibited from granting credit to the private sector except in the case of the financial sector; v) established that in order to grant credit to the government, the unanimous vote of its Board of Directors was required except in the case of open market transactions; vi) determined that the legislature may, in no case, order credit quotas in favor of the State or individuals; vii) Congress was appointed, on behalf of society, as the main addressee of the Bank’s reporting exercise; and viii) the responsibility for inspection, surveillance, and control over Banco de la República was delegated to the President of the Republic. The members of the National Constitutional Assembly clearly understood that the benefits of low and stable inflation extend to the whole of society and contribute mto the smooth functioning of the economic system. Among the most important of these is that low inflation promotes the efficient use of productive resources by allowing relative prices to better guide the allocation of resources since this promotes economic growth and increases the welfare of the population. Likewise, low inflation reduces uncertainty about the expected return on investment and future asset prices. This increases the confidence of economic agents, facilitates long-term financing, and stimulates investment. Since the low-income population is unable to protect itself from inflation by diversifying its assets, and a high proportion of its income is concentrated in the purchase of food and other basic goods that are generally the most affected by inflationary shocks, low inflation avoids arbitrary redistribution of income and wealth.2 Moreover, low inflation facilitates wage negotiations, creates a good labor climate, and reduces the volatility of employment levels. Finally, low inflation helps to make the tax system more transparent and equitable by avoiding the distortions that inflation introduces into the value of assets and income that make up the tax base. From the monetary authority’s point of view, one of the most relevant benefits of low inflation is the credibility that economic agents acquire in inflation targeting, which turns it into an effective nominal anchor on price levels. Upon receiving its mandate, and using its autonomy, Banco de la República began to announce specific annual inflation targets as of 1992. Although the proposed inflation targets were not met precisely during this first stage, a downward trend in inflation was achieved that took it from 32.4% in 1990 to 16.7% in 1998. At that time, the exchange rate was kept within a band. This limited the effectiveness of monetary policy, which simultaneously sought to meet an inflation target and an exchange rate target. The Asian crisis spread to emerging economies and significantly affected the Colombian economy. The exchange rate came under strong pressure to depreciate as access to foreign financing was cut off under conditions of a high foreign imbalance. This, together with the lack of exchange rate flexibility, prevented a countercyclical monetary policy and led to a 4.2% contraction in GDP that year. In this context of economic slowdown, annual inflation fell to 9.2% at the end of 1999, thus falling below the 15% target set for that year. This episode fully revealed how costly it could be, in terms of economic activity, to have inflation and exchange rate targets simultaneously. Towards the end of 1999, Banco de la República announced the adoption of a new monetary policy regime called the Inflation Targeting Plan. This regime, known internationally as ‘Inflation Targeting,’ has been gaining increasing acceptance in developed countries, having been adopted in 1991 by New Zealand, Canada, and England, among others, and has achieved significant advances in the management of inflation without incurring costs in terms of economic activity. In Latin America, Brazil and Chile also adopted it in 1999. In the case of Colombia, the last remaining requirement to be fulfilled in order to adopt said policy was exchange rate flexibility. This was realized around September 1999, when the BDBR decided to abandon the exchange-rate bands to allow the exchange rate to be freely determined in the market.Consistent with the constitutional mandate, the fundamental objective of this new policy approach was “the achievement of an inflation target that contributes to maintaining output growth around its potential.”3 This potential capacity was understood as the GDP growth that the economy can obtain if it fully utilizes its productive resources. To meet this objective, monetary policy must of necessity play a countercyclical role in the economy. This is because when economic activity is below its potential and there are idle resources, the monetary authority can reduce the interest rate in the absence of inflationary pressure to stimulate the economy and, when output exceeds its potential capacity, raise it. This policy principle, which is immersed in the models for guiding the monetary policy stance, makes the following two objectives fully compatible in the medium term: meeting the inflation target and achieving a level of economic activity that is consistent with its productive capacity. To achieve this purpose, the inflation targeting system uses the money market interest rate (at which the central bank supplies primary liquidity to commercial banks) as the primary policy instrument. This replaced the quantity of money as an intermediate monetary policy target that Banco de la República, like several other central banks, had used for a long time. In the case of Colombia, the objective of the new monetary policy approach implied, in practical terms, that the recovery of the economy after the 1999 contraction should be achieved while complying with the decreasing inflation targets established by the BDBR. The accomplishment of this purpose was remarkable. In the first half of the first decade of the 2000s, economic activity recovered significantly and reached a growth rate of 6.8% in 2006. Meanwhile, inflation gradually declined in line with inflation targets. That was how the inflation rate went from 9.2% in 1999 to 4.5% in 2006, thus meeting the inflation target established for that year while GDP reached its potential level. After this balance was achieved in 2006, inflation rebounded to 5.7% in 2007, above the 4.0% target for that year due to the fact that the 7.5% GDP growth exceeded the potential capacity of the economy.4 After proving the effectiveness of the inflation targeting system in its first years of operation, this policy regime continued to consolidate as the BDBR and the technical staff gained experience in its management and state-of-the-art economic models were incorporated to diagnose the present and future state of the economy and to assess the persistence of inflation deviations and expectations with respect to the inflation target. Beginning in 2010, the BDBR established the long-term 3.0% annual inflation target, which remains in effect today. Lower inflation has contributed to making the macroeconomic environment more stable, and this has favored sustained economic growth, financial stability, capital market development, and the functioning of payment systems. As a result, reductions in the inflationary risk premia and lower TES and credit interest rates were achieved. At the same time, the duration of public domestic debt increased significantly going from 2.27 years in December 2002 to 5.86 years in December 2022, and financial deepening, measured as the level of the portfolio as a percentage of GDP, went from around 20% in the mid-1990s to values above 45% in recent years in a healthy context for credit institutions.Having been granted autonomy by the Constitution to fulfill the mandate of preserving the purchasing power of the currency, the tangible achievements made by Banco de la República in managing inflation together with the significant benefits derived from the process of bringing inflation to its long-term target, make the BDBR’s current challenge to return inflation to the 3.0% target even more demanding and pressing. As is well known, starting in 2021, and especially in 2022, inflation in Colombia once again became a serious economic problem with high welfare costs. The inflationary phenomenon has not been exclusive to Colombia and many other developed and emerging countries have seen their inflation rates move away from the targets proposed by their central banks.5 The reasons for this phenomenon have been analyzed in recent Reports to Congress, and this new edition delves deeper into the subject with updated information. The solid institutional and technical base that supports the inflation targeting approach under which the monetary policy strategy operates gives the BDBR the necessary elements to face this difficult challenge with confidence. In this regard, the BDBR reiterated its commitment to the 3.0% inflation target in its November 25 communiqué and expects it to be reached by the end of 2024.6 Monetary policy will continue to focus on meeting this objective while ensuring the sustainability of economic activity, as mandated by the Constitution. Analyst surveys done in March showed a significant increase (from 32.3% in January to 48.5% in March) in the percentage of responses placing inflation expectations two years or more ahead in a range between 3.0% and 4.0%. This is a clear indication of the recovery of credibility in the medium-term inflation target and is consistent with the BDBR’s announcement made in November 2022. The moderation of the upward trend in inflation seen in January, and especially in February, will help to reinforce this revision of inflation expectations and will help to meet the proposed targets. After reaching 5.6% at the end of 2021, inflation maintained an upward trend throughout 2022 due to inflationary pressures from both external sources, associated with the aftermath of the pandemic and the consequences of the war in Ukraine, and domestic sources, resulting from: strengthening of local demand; price indexation processes stimulated by the increase in inflation expectations; the impact on food production caused by the mid-2021 strike; and the pass-through of depreciation to prices. The 10% increase in the minimum wage in 2021 and the 16% increase in 2022, both of which exceeded the actual inflation and the increase in productivity, accentuated the indexation processes by establishing a high nominal adjustment benchmark. Thus, total inflation went to 13.1% by the end of 2022. The annual change in food prices, which went from 17.2% to 27.8% between those two years, was the most influential factor in the surge in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Another segment that contributed significantly to price increases was regulated products, which saw the annual change go from 7.1% in December 2021 to 11.8% by the end of 2022. The measure of core inflation excluding food and regulated items, in turn, went from 2.5% to 9.5% between the end of 2021 and the end of 2022. The substantial increase in core inflation shows that inflationary pressure has spread to most of the items in the household basket, which is characteristic of inflationary processes with generalized price indexation as is the case in Colombia. Monetary policy began to react early to this inflationary pressure. Thus, starting with its September 2021 session, the BDBR began a progressive change in the monetary policy stance moving away from the historical low of a 1.75% policy rate that had intended to stimulate the recovery of the economy. This adjustment process continued without interruption throughout 2022 and into the beginning of 2023 when the monetary policy rate reached 12.75% last January, thus accumulating an increase of 11 percentage points (pp). The public and the markets have been surprised that inflation continued to rise despite significant interest rate increases. However, as the BDBR has explained in its various communiqués, monetary policy works with a lag. Just as in 2022 economic activity recovered to a level above the pre-pandemic level, driven, along with other factors, by the monetary stimulus granted during the pandemic period and subsequent months, so too the effects of the current restrictive monetary policy will gradually take effect. This will allow us to expect the inflation rate to converge to 3.0% by the end of 2024 as is the BDBR’s purpose.Inflation results for January and February of this year showed declining marginal increases (13 bp and 3 bp respectively) compared to the change seen in December (59 bp). This suggests that a turning point in the inflation trend is approaching. In other Latin American countries such as Chile, Brazil, Perú, and Mexico, inflation has peaked and has begun to decline slowly, albeit with some ups and downs. It is to be expected that a similar process will take place in Colombia in the coming months. The expected decline in inflation in 2023 will be due, along with other factors, to lower cost pressure from abroad as a result of the gradual normalization of supply chains, the overcoming of supply shocks caused by the weather, and road blockades in previous years. This will be reflected in lower adjustments in food prices, as has already been seen in the first two months of the year and, of course, the lagged effect of monetary policy. The process of inflation convergence to the target will be gradual and will extend beyond 2023. This process will be facilitated if devaluation pressure is reversed. To this end, it is essential to continue consolidating fiscal sustainability and avoid messages on different public policy fronts that generate uncertainty and distrust. 1 This Report to Congress includes Box 1, which summarizes the trajectory of Banco de la República over the past 100 years. In addition, under the Bank’s auspices, several books that delve into various aspects of the history of this institution have been published in recent years. See, for example: Historia del Banco de la República 1923-2015; Tres banqueros centrales; Junta Directiva del Banco de la República: grandes episodios en 30 años de historia; Banco de la República: 90 años de la banca central en Colombia. 2 This is why lower inflation has been reflected in a reduction of income inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient that went from 58.7 in 1998 to 51.3 in the year prior to the pandemic. 3 See Gómez Javier, Uribe José Darío, Vargas Hernando (2002). “The Implementation of Inflation Targeting in Colombia”. Borradores de Economía, No. 202, March, available at: https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/5220 4 See López-Enciso Enrique A.; Vargas-Herrera Hernando and Rodríguez-Niño Norberto (2016). “The inflation targeting strategy in Colombia. An historical view.” Borradores de Economía, No. 952. https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/6263 5 According to the IMF, the percentage change in consumer prices between 2021 and 2022 went from 3.1% to 7.3% for advanced economies, and from 5.9% to 9.9% for emerging market and developing economies. 6 https://www.banrep.gov.co/es/noticias/junta-directiva-banco-republica-reitera-meta-inflacion-3

This research explores the potential of the Youth Fellowship Program (YFP) as a supplementary urban educational intervention to formal higher education. The findings highlight the significance of the YFP as a crucial element in enabling research-oriented, problem-focused and action-oriented urban education. Such an approach complements formal urban higher education and addresses existing gaps, making contemporary urban education more responsive to the challenges faced in urban settings. Firstly, the programme recognises critical gaps in the contemporary higher education curriculum, ensuring that essential dimensions of Indian urbanisation, including vulnerability, inequality, access to basic services, urban poverty and informal employment, receive due recognition. Secondly, the YFP acts as a bridge between formal and informal education systems, establishing strong feedback loops within the learning ecosystem and facilitating the integration of practical knowledge into formal higher education. Thirdly, the YFP places human agency at the core of its transformative agenda. By prioritising core constitutional principles in education and providing space for vulnerable and marginalised youth to become YFP fellows, the programme aligns with representation issues, ensuring inclusivity and fostering empowerment among the learners. Fourthly, the YFP structurally demonstrates its effectiveness in addressing multiple interdependencies inherent in various urban development agendas. Unlike discipline and skill-focused higher education systems in India, the programme enables a holistic approach where YFP can engage with challenges in areas like healthcare and navigate a suite of interconnected development issues. Finally, the research emphasises the YFP’s participatory processes of learning as an iterative and dynamic approach. Such participatory learning fosters an empowering environment and emphasises learning as a continual journey rather than a mere end point.

In this position statement, the authors write in support of Ebonics (also known as African American Vernacular English, Black English, Black Dialect, and African American Language) as a legitimate language. The linguistic and cultural origins of Ebonics is traced, along with its legitimacy by professional organizations and the courts. CABE asserts that the role of schools and teachers is therefore to build on students’ knowledge of Ebonics rather than replace or eradicate Ebonics as they teach standard English. This position statement has implications for teacher training.

The US Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization eliminated the federal constitutional right to abortion in the United States. This report provides a topline summary of the emerging body of research measuring the likely impact of the Dobbs decision on outcomes in four areas: abortion services and access, abortion incidence, incidence of births and contraceptive use. To locate peer-reviewed studies, we searched three academic databases (Google Scholar, PubMed and JSTOR) using the terms “abortion” AND (“Dobbs” OR “Roe”) and limited our summary to study findings published by April 30, 2024. Fewer than 10 peer-reviewed journal articles examining the impact of this legal decision had been published by that date (in part because the peer-review process can take months or years). Some studies were published in other formats, and we relied on internet searches, media coverage and institutional knowledge to locate the studies that had not been published in peer-reviewed journals. We also examined the references cited in research studies located by these searches. This report does not include every research publication we found (see Appendix below for a list of additional studies) and is limited to those most relevant to the four topic areas mentioned above. Our summary includes: 9 articles published in peer-reviewed journals 1 manuscript undergoing peer review and available via preprint 13 online reports, discussion papers and policy analyses Since April 30, 2024, additional studies have been published and many more are on the horizon. The studies summarized here reflect only the beginning of what will be a substantial body of research that provides valuable insights into how specific states’ policies affect their residents’ reproductive health and autonomy under changed conditions after the Dobbs decision.