Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Constitutional judiciary at the intersection of law and politics

2009; University of Belgrade Faculty of Law; Volume: 57; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

2406-2693

Olivera Vučić, Dragan Stojanović,

Legal and Policy Issues

The matter of relationship between the traditional branches of government - executive, judicial and legislative - on one side, and the constitutional court on the other, never loses its relevance. Interaction between the legislator and the constitutional court remains the focal point of this relationship. In the vast majority of modern states, constitutional courts represent the most powerful instrument of institutionalization of the constitutional protection function. However, the question of scope of the constitutional judiciary power is unresolved, both in theory and in practice. Namely, there is an ongoing discussion on the rapport between the constitutional court and the idea of the separation of powers, and between the constitutional court and politics. The question of the connection between constitutional courts and politics becomes more relevant as the jurisdiction of constitutional courts extends, and as the range of the acts falling under constitutional judicial review broadens. One of the functions of constitutional judiciary is to exercise legal control over politics. Decisive factor of the activities of constitutional court is constitution, as a legal act of the highest level, with strong political attributes and undisputable political importance. Furthermore, in the hart of these activities are constitutional legal questions, which include certain political elements. By protecting the law guaranteed by the constitution, the constitutional judiciary draws material frontiers of politics, using the authority of the politically neutral judicial institution. It also guards the authority of constitution, protecting functional separation of the powers, and the political bodies as title holders of this authority.