Judicial review - Germany - Public opinion -- Judicial review - Political aspects - Germany

Indeks : p.189-193 ; p.179-187 ; Constitutional courts have emerged as central institutions in many advanced democracies. This book investigates the sources and limits of judicial authority, focusing on the central role of public support for judicial independence. It illustrate the theoretical argument in an in-depth study of the German Federal Constitutional Court, including statistical analysis of judicial decisions, case studies, and interviews with judges and legislators. The book's major finding is that the interests of governing majorities, prevailing public opinion, and the transparency of the political environment exert a powerful influence on judicial decisions. Judges are influenced not only by jurisprudential considerations and their policy preferences, but also by strategic concerns. It challenges the contention that high court justices are largely unconstrained actors, as well as the notion that constitutional courts lack democratic legitimacy. The period bracketed by the dramatic moments of 1937 and 1954, written off as a forgotten time of failure and futility, was in reality the first phase of modern struggles to define the constitutional order that will dominate the twenty - first century.