Constitutional reforms often occur under moments of national crisis, mainly economic and political ones. Recent economic crisis around the globe have intensified the adoption of austerity policies, reducing public spending in health system, labor and pension rights. Furthermore, political crisis in the representative government have generated self-protection measures for the maintenance of politicians in office,...
Social rights in times of economic crisis: the role of the courts
Crisis is the word to sum up the present situation in Western constitutional discourse. The co-causality is unconcealed: economic problems are products and producers, at the same time, of constitutional problems experienced. The project of constituent social democracy became the focus of reforms; the prediction of social rights and guarantees came under heavy attack. Other...
When 5×4 is not a winning majority: judicial decision-making on unconstitutional constitutional amendments
The main democratic critiques on the strong judicial review tend to disregard the constitutional amendment as a mechanism to mitigate judicial supremacy. For political constitutionalism, supermajority rules do not offer equal treatment, as this rule favors the maintenance of the status quo by making changes more difficult to occur. Underlying this assertion is the belief...
Unconstitutional constitutional amendments: can a strong judicial review avoid abusive constitutionalism?
The Brazilian Constitution is perhaps one of the few Constitutions in the World that brings in its role of immutable clauses a larger and more restrictive nucleus of the Power of reform. If on the one hand this limitation may be seem as undemocratic, it can be justified in order to avoid an abuse in...
Who will protect social rights in times of economic crisis? Exploring the legal parameters of judicial intervention in Brazilian public policies
Are the courts able to defend social rights against the will of the majority powers in times of economic crisis? The legal literature affirms the role of the Judiciary as the guardian of the Constitution and consequently, guarantor of these rights against Government‘s choices. In contrast, empirical studies show that, in analyzing the preferences of...