Supermajority Voting in Constitutional Courts: The Problem of Majority Rule for Democracy and Legislation (Comparative Constitutional Change)

Caviedes, Cristóbal

ISBN 10: 1032723947 / ISBN 13: 9781032723945

Published by Routledge, 2024

About this Item

Seller Inventory # V9781032723945

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Supermajority Voting in Constitutional Courts: The Problem of Majority Rule for Democracy and Legislation (Comparative Constitutional Change)
• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication Date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1032723947
• ISBN 13: 9781032723945
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

This book challenges the wide use of majority rule in many constitutional courts for declaring statutes unconstitutional and argues that these courts should rather perform constitutional review by using supermajority rules. Considering that constitutional courts often tackle hard moral issues, it is questionable whether a bare majority of judges should suffice for settling them, especially considering these courts’ counter-majoritarian nature. Further, the wide use of majority rule for checking the constitutionality of legislation may increasingly risk their reputation. Such a concern is developing in the United States following a series of Supreme Court decisions. This book argues that majority rule is unjustified in constitutional review. This means that, in constitutional review, considering majority rule’s traits, there are no decisive reasons for using this voting rule over other voting rules. Additionally, the book argues that, when checking the constitutionality of legislation, constitutional courts should replace majority rule with supermajority rules. Thus, for declaring statutes unconstitutional, it is argued that more than 50% of the judges present plus one judge present should be needed. This book will be of interest to academics, researchers, and policy-makers working in the areas of Constitutional Law and Politics.

About the Author

Cristóbal Caviedes is Assistant Professor of Law, Universidad Católica del Norte, Chile.