#Constitutional Courts

News

Halloween at the Constitutional Tribunal

On Friday, October 30, the rule of law crisis that has plagued Poland for more than ten years took another turn. The removal of the President and Vice-President of the Constitutional Tribunal led to uproar in front of the court’s building, with far-right politicians fabricating a “coup d’état” in the media. In their op-ed, Andrzej Schultz and Katarzyna Krzyżanowska dissect the various legal components of the events that have unfolded during the Polish government’s latest attempt to restore the country’s Constitutional Tribunal.

5.11.2026

Podcasts

Benjamin Gedan and Elias French on the Threat to Latin American Term Limits

The desire of leaders to remain in office indefinitely has haunted democracy since its inception. Politicians have found various ways to circumvent democratic accountability and sideline the people’s will for a change in leadership, from military coups to rigged elections or the installation of puppet leaders. One of the most widely used tools to constrain such practices is the establishment of presidential term limits. Many of today’s constitutions impose a limit on the number of times a person can run for office.

5.01.2026

Podcasts

Ex-Ministers as Constitutional Judges – In Conversation with Mathias Möschel

Debates about the politicization of constitutional courts are as old as the institution itself. The concept’s originator, Hans Kelsen, emphasized the importance of preventing members of the government and parliament from sitting on constitutional courts, “because their acts are the acts to be controlled by the court.” While this idea is deeply entrenched—at least to the extent that simultaneous membership in the executive or legislative and judicial branches is widely prohibited—the same does not hold true across other temporal dimensions. In his new book Ex-Ministers as Constitutional Judges, published by Oxford University Press, Prof. Mathias Möschel examines the effects—both negative and positive—of this practice, focusing on the constitutional courts of France, Italy, Austria, and Germany.

14.04.2025