Fruzsina Gárdos-Orosz

Constitutional Justice under Populism

The Transformation of Constitutional Jurisprudence in Hungary since 2010


Concerning the transformation

In Hungary, the Constitutional Court has played a major role in shaping the public and private legal order – even in ways of activism that can be criticised – in the post-1990 period, especially in the years following the change of regime. This is perhaps the reason why the constitution-making and constitution-amending two-thirds Fidesz–Christian Democrats (Orbán Government) majority did not undertake a complete reform of the Constitutional Court in 2011. The Constitutional Court remained as an important constitutional institution1 in the new regime, and its considerable competencies were reserved, as was the idea of the Constitutional Court having the final say on the content of the Constitution/Fundamental Law from 2012. The Constitutional Court continued to interpret the scope of protection, rights and entitlements granted by the Fundamental Law, i.e. the foundations of the state organisation, with binding effect for all decisions. The organisationally independent and separate (from ordinary judiciary) Constitutional Court can annul legislation. However, with a two-thirds constituent majority, neither the constitution-making majority itself nor the newly elected constitutional judges could responsibly believe that they were the autonomous interpreters of the Fundamental Law, since between 2010 and 2013 the constitution-making and amending two thirds majority in Parliament overruled the Constitutional Court’s decisions on many occasions by constitutional amendments.2 Although in other European states the relationship between the government majority and the constitutional court has also been characterised by strained relations,3 the Hungarian situation is special because before 2010 the Constitutional Court not only proved capable of setting the “standard” by establishing the basis for the legal argumentation that is to be followed, but also had already acquired a general and stable legitimacy. Several studies have shown, however, that the decisions of the Constitutional Court or the reasoning behind them have rarely been reflected in the case law of the judiciary, the legal doctrine evolved quite independently from the Constitutional Court decisions in most of the cases.4 The Constitutional Court had greater influence on the political branches of power.

Constitutional Justice under Populism

Tartalomjegyzék


Kiadó: Akadémiai Kiadó

Online megjelenés éve: 2024

ISBN: 978 963 454 971 0

In Hungary’s 2010 parliamentary elections, Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance and its coalition partner, the Christian Democratic Party won a landslide victory and the newly formed populist Orbán-government gained a two-thirds constitution-making parliamentary majority, which it has kept for four consecutive terms (so far). In the spring of 2011, the National Assembly adopted Hungary’s new Fundamental Law, which has since been amended twelve times. The transformation of the Hungarian Constitutional Court and constitutional jurisprudence has played a significant role in cementing the new regime. The changes can be followed in a chronological order in this book. The author starts with the explanation of the concept of constitutional adjudication, she then reviews the procedural-institutional developments and the critical doctrinal junctures of the past thirteen years with regard to the general assessment of the change in constitutional justice. Finally, the volume offers a reading of how the scholarly experiences and factual results of the thirteen years spent under populism compare to the ideal of constitutional-court-made constitutional justice.

Fruzsina Gárdos-Orosz is research professor at the Institute for Legal Studies, HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences and professor of constitutional law at ELTE Law School, Budapest. She worked as law clerk at the Hungarian Constitutional Court in different positions between 2003 and 2013. She has published extensively on different aspects of constitutional law, including the practice of the Hungarian Constitutional Court, the impact of different contemporary challenges to constitutional adjudication, as well as the rule of law resilience of Hungarian legal system.

Hivatkozás: https://mersz.hu/gardos-orosz-constitutional-justice-under-populism//

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