FAQ

On the Strategic Reading of the Constitutional Document. Mapping out Frontiers of New Constitutional Research

Data publikacji: 2018

Przegląd Konstytucyjny, 2018, Numer 2 (2018), s. 16 - 45

Autorzy

Tomasz Tadeusz Koncewicz
Uniwersytet Gdański
ul. Bażyńskiego 1a 80-952 Gdańsk, Polska
Wszystkie publikacje autora →

Tytuły

On the Strategic Reading of the Constitutional Document. Mapping out Frontiers of New Constitutional Research

Abstrakt

The paper asks when is a constitutional design of any (domestic, international, supranational) polity in error? On the most general level such critical juncture obtains when polity’s founding document (treaty, convention, constitution) protects against the dangers that no longer exist or does not protect against the dangers that were not contemplated by the Founders. The paper asks the question whether whether the capture of state institutions in Poland (and Hungary before it) is an outlying case, or if it portends the future of Europe more generally. Whatever the case, Poland matters, and more than for just the Poles. The case illuminates salient features and fissures in the bases for democratic government, the rule of law, and constitutionalism when confronted with the sweeping politics of resentment. Courts play a pivotal role in the process because of their supervisory functions and the embedded lowprofile and arcane language of the law. There is always a bona fide assumption that law will speak louder than any transient urges of the powers that be and that in the end the law will enforce its primacy. That assumption might be correct in the best of times when everything goes according to plan. When it does not, courts look fragile and vulnerable, as the only protective tool they wield – ‘the law’ – is taken away from them by the sheer power of political sleight of hand. The question then arises as to whether political exigencies could bring about self-re-imagination on the part of the courts so as to make them protectors of constitutional essentials in such emergency situations. In other words, could capture of the state and institutions be countered by judicial recapture? The Polish example is instructive here and shows how existing mechanisms open important legal avenues to strike back at capture. Yet embarking on any such recapture must be linked not only to the normative and technical (here the question would be: “Does the system contain enough to build a good legal case for exercising such powers?”), but also to the mental (here we would ask the uneasy question “Are judges willing and ready to use these mechanisms to protect democracy?”). The paper will argue that even a symbolic act of resistance in pursuit of a judicial promise is crucial. It builds institutional memory and a legacy that goes beyond disappointment and failure ‘here and now.’ For the system to regain its liberal credentials, the courts and the public must have something tangible to fall back on. Such act of resistance serves as an example of ‘symbolic jurisprudence’ because it reminds us that survival of the system must be anchored in a long-term fidelity, which goes beyond and transcends the events of here and now.

Bibliografia

‘How Democracies Die’ Review – the Secret of Trump’s Success, < https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/08/how-democracies-die-by-steven-levitskyand-daniel-ziblatt-review?CMP=share_btn_link >.

Allan T.R.S., Justice and Integrity: The Paradox of Wicked Laws, “Oxford Journal of Legal Studies”2009, No. 29.

Badano G., Nuti A., Under Pressure: Political Liberalism, the Rise of Unreasonableness, and the Complexity of Containment, “The Journal of Political Philosophy”2017, No. 1.

Barak A., The Judge in a Democracy, Princeton 2006.

Barber N.W., Self-Defence for the Institutions, “Cambridge Law Journal”2013, No. 72.

Blauberger M., Kelemen D., Can Courts Rescue National Democracy? Judicial Safeguards against Democratic Backsliding in the EU, “Journal of European Public Policy”2016, No. 24 (321).

Cohen R., Awaken, Poland, before It’s too Late, “The New York Times”16th February 2018, < https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/opinion/awaken-polandbefore-its-too-late.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Froger-cohen&action=click&contentCollection=opinion®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection >.

Comella V.F., Constitutional Courts and Democratic Values, New Haven 2009.

Dorsen N., Rosenfeld M., Baer S., Sajo A., Comparative Constitutionalism. Cases and Materials, St. Paul 2003.

Dworkin R., A Matter of Principle, Cambridge 1985.

Dworkin R., Political Judges and the Rule of Law, London 1980.

E.U. Reminds Poland How a Democracy Acts, “The New York Times”28th December 2017, < https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/opinion/eu-polanddemocracy-vote.html >.

Edlin D.E., Judges and Unjust Laws. Common Law Constitutionalism and the Foundations of Judicial Review, Ann Arbor 2010.

Edward D., The National Courts – The Powerhouse of Community Law, “Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies”2002, No. 5 (1).

Garapon A., Le Gardien des promesses Justice et démocratie, Paris 1996.

Garlicki L., Disabling the Constitutional Court in Poland?, in: Transformation of Law Systems in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe in 1989–2015.

Liber Amicorum in Honorem Prof. dr. dres. H. C. Rainer Arnold, ed. A. Szmyt, B. Banaszak, Gdańsk 2016.

Ginsburg T., The Politics of Courts in Democratization. Four Junctures in Asia, in: Consequential Courts: Judicial Roles in Global Perspective, ed. D. Kapiszewski, G. Silverstein, R.A. Kagan, Cambridge 2013.

Graver H.P., Judges against Justice: On Judges when the Rule of Law is under Attack, Berlin, Heidelberg 2015.

Huq A., Ginsburg T., How to Lose a Constitutional Democracy, “UCLA Law Review”2018, No. 65 (forthcoming).

Kaltwasser C.R., Populism and the Question of how to Respond to It, in: The Oxford Handbook of Populism, ed. C. Rovira Kaltwasser, P. Taggart, P. Och Espejo, P. Ostiguy, Oxford 2017.

Kochenov D., Pech L., Scheppele K.L., The European Commission’s Activation of Article 7: Better Late than Never?, < https://verfassungsblog.de/the-europeancommissions-activation-of-article-7-better-late-than-never >.

Koncewicz T.T., “A Good Constitution” and the Habits of Heart, “Verfassungs blog”30th December 2017, < http://verfassungsblog.de/a-good-constitutionand-the-habits-of-heart >.

Koncewicz T.T., Farewell to the Polish Constitutional Court, “Verfasungsblog” 9th July 2016, < http://verfassungsblog.de/farewell-to-the-polish-constitu tional-court >.

Koncewicz T.T., In Judges We Trust? A Long Overdue Paradigm Shift within the Polish Judiciary, part I: < https://verfassungsblog.de/in-judges-we-trusta-long-overdue-paradigm-shift-within-the-polish-judiciary-part-i >; part II: < https://verfassungsblog.de/in-judges-we-trust-a-long-overdue-paradigmshift-within-the-polish-judiciary-part-ii >.

Koncewicz T.T., Polish Constitutional Drama: Of Courts, Democracy, Constitutional Shenanigans and Constitutional Self-Defense, “I-CONnect”6th December 2015, < www.iconnectblog.com/2015/12/polish-constitutional-dramaof-courts-democracy-constitutional-shenanigans-and-constitutionalself-defense >.

Koncewicz T.T., Statutory Tinkering: on the Senate’s Changes to the Law on the Polish Constitutional Tribunal, < http://verfassungsblog.de/statutorytinkering-senate-polish-constitutional-tribunal >.

Koncewicz T.T., The Capture of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal and Beyond: Of Institution(s), Fidelities and the Rule of Law in Flux, to be published in: “Review of Central and East European Law”2018, < http://www.brill.com/review-central-and-east-european-law >.

Koncewicz T.T., The Consensus Fights back: European First Principles against the Rule of Law Crisis, < https://verfassungsblog.de/the-consensus-fights-backeuropean-first-principles-against-the-rule-of-law-crisis-part-1 >, < https://verfassungsblog.de/the-consensus-fights-back-european-first-principlesagainst-the-rule-of-law-crisis-part-2 >.

Koncewicz T.T., The Court Is Dead, Long Live the Courts? On Judicial Review in Poland in 2017 and “Judicial Space” beyond, < https://verfassungsblog.de/the-court-is-dead-long-live-the-courts-on-judicial-review-in-poland-in-2017-and-judicial-space-beyond >.

Koncewicz T.T., Unconstitutional Capture and Constitutional Recapture. Of the Rule of Law, Separation of Powers and Judicial Promises, “NYU Jean Monnet Working Paper”2017, No. 3, < https://jeanmonnetprogram.org/papers >.

Kupchan Ch.A., The Battle Line for Western Values Runs through Poland, “The New York Times”10th January 2018, < https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/10/opinion/europe-western-values-poland.html >.

Landau D., Abusive Constitutionalism, “University of California Davis Law Review”2013, No. 47 (189).

Lenaerts K., Maselis I., Gutmann K., EU Procedural Level, Oxford 2015.

Levitsky S., Ziblatt D., Is Donald Trump a Threat to Democracy, “The New York Times”16th December 2016, < https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/16/opinion/sunday/is-donald-trump-a-threat-to-democracy.html >.

Levitzky S., Ziblatt D., How a Democracy Dies, < https://newrepublic.com/article/145916/democracy-dies-donald-trump-contempt-for-american-politicalinstitutions >.

Levitzky S., Ziblatt D., How’s Democracy Holding up after Trump’s First Year?, < https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/01/trump-democracy-ziblatt-levitsky/550340 >.

Merryman J.H., The Civil Law Tradition. An Introduction to the Legal Systems of Western Europe and Latin America, Stanford 1969.

Muller J.W., Defending Democracy within the EU, “Journal of Democracy”2013, No. 24 (138).

Rosanvallon P., La contre-democratie: La politique a l’âge de la défiance, Paris 2006 (English-language edition: P. Rosanvallon, Counter – Democracy: Politics in the Age of Distrust, Cambridge 2008).

Rummens S., Abts K., Defending Democracy: The Concentric Containment of Political Extremism, “Political Studies”2010, No. 58 (649).

Sadurski W., How Democracy Dies (in Poland): A Case Study of Anti-Constitutional Populist Backsliding, “Sydney Law School Research Paper”2018, No. 1, < https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3103491 >.

Sadurski W., Judicial “Reform” in Poland: The President’s Bills Are as Unconstitutional as the Ones He Vetoed, “Verfassungsblog”28th November 2017, < http://verfassungsblog.de/judicial-reform-in-poland-the-presidents-billsare-as-unconstitutional-as-the-ones-he-vetoed >.

Sadurski W., What Is Going on in Poland Is an Attack against Democracy?, “Verfassungsblog”15th July 2016, < http://verfassungsblog.de/what-is-goingon-in-poland-is-an-attack-against-democracy >.

Scheppele K.L., Autocratic Legalism, “University of Chicago Law Review”(forthcoming).

Scheppele K.L., Constitutional Coups and Judicial Review: How Transnational Institutions Can Strengthen Peak Courts at Times of Crisis (with Special Reference to Hungary), “Transnational Law and Contemporary Problems” 2014, No. 23 (51).

Scheppele K.L., Pech L., Illiberalism Within: Rule of Law Backsliding in the EU, “Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies”2017, No. 1.

Schmitter P.C., Civil Society East and West, in: Consolidating the Third Wave Democracies. Themes and Perspectives, ed. L. Diamond, M.F. Plattner, Y. Chu, H. Tien, Baltimore 1997.

The Enforcement of EU Law and Values. Ensuring Member States’ Compliance, ed. D. Kochenov, A. Jakab, Cambridge 2017.

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, The Constitutional Crisis in Poland 2015–2016, Report (August 2016), < http://www.hfhr.pl/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/HFHR_The-constitutional-crisis-in-Poland-2015-2016.pdf >.

Tokson M., Judicial Resistance and Legal Change, “The University of Chicago Law Review”2015, No. 82 (2).

Traub J., The Party That Wants to Make Poland Great Again, “The New York Times” 2nd November 2016, < https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/06/magazine/the-party-that-wants-to-make-poland-great-again.html?_r=0 >.

Varol O., Stealth Authoritarianism, “Iowa Law Review”2015, No. 100 (1673).

Wyrzykowski M., Bypassing the Constitution or Changing the Constitutional Order outside the Constitution, in: Transformation of Law Systems in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe in 1989–2015. Liber Amicorum in Honorem Prof. dr. dres. H. C. Rainer Arnold, ed. A. Szmyt, B. Banaszak, Gdańsk 2016.

Ziblatt D., Levitzky S., How Democracies Die, New York 2018.

Informacje

Informacje: Przegląd Konstytucyjny, 2018, Numer 2 (2018), s. 16 - 45

Typ artykułu: Oryginalny artykuł naukowy

Tytuły:

Angielski:

On the Strategic Reading of the Constitutional Document. Mapping out Frontiers of New Constitutional Research

Polski:

On the Strategic Reading of the Constitutional Document. Mapping out Frontiers of New Constitutional Research

Autorzy

Uniwersytet Gdański
ul. Bażyńskiego 1a 80-952 Gdańsk, Polska

Publikacja: 2018

Status artykułu: Otwarte __T_UNLOCK

Licencja: Żadna

Udział procentowy autorów:

Tomasz Tadeusz Koncewicz (Autor) - 100%

Korekty artykułu:

-

Języki publikacji:

Angielski

Liczba wyświetleń: 141

Liczba pobrań: 140