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Constitutional justice between law and politics: judicial behaviour at the Portuguese Constitutional Court

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Resumo:One of the central features of modern democracies is that which has already been referred to as the «global expansion of the judicial power» or the «judicialization of politics». This phenomenon raises several questions as to the position of the courts - and, in particular, of the constitutional courts - within the framework of government systems. One way to answer these questions is by analysing the processes by which the judges concerned make their decisions, i.e. along the line of the judicial behaviour studies carried out in the United States. After analysis of the voting behaviour of the judges at the Portuguese Constitutional Court between 1983 and 1998, we concluded that the judges' «party affiliation» takes on an important role in their decision making. The divisions that are registered in the Court, particularly in cases of preventive supervision of the constitutionality of certain acts requested by the President of the Republic are, to a large extent, explainable by the judges' «party affiliation». However, this does not mean that the causal mechanisms that link the political parties and the voting behaviour of the constitutional judges are entirely clear. One the one hand, this connection can be a result of the «ideological congruence» between parties and judges; on the other, it can be based on a «political responsiveness» on the part of the judges in relation to the parties that appointed them. Finally, one should note that, contrary to statements often made in the media and to the public opinion in general, the judges' «party affiliation», be this through one or the other causal mechanism («ideological congruence» or «political responsiveness»), does not explain all the variations registered in terms of the political influence of the judges' decisions.
Autores principais:Coutinho Magalhães, Pedro
Outros Autores:de Araújo, António
Assunto:judicialização da política comportamento de voto dos juízes 1983-1998 Tribunal Constitucional português conexões partidárias dos juízes judicialization of politics voting behaviour of the judges 1983-1998 Portuguese Constitutional Court judges' party affiliation .
Ano:1998
País:Portugal
Tipo de documento:artigo
Tipo de acesso:unknown
Instituição associada:Universidade de Lisboa
Idioma:português
Origem:Análise Social

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