How do types of procedure affect the degree of politicization of European Constitutional Courts? : a comparative study of Germany, Bulgaria, and Portugal

Abstract

Do different types of procedure affect the degree of politicization of constitutional courts in European democracies? We argue that they do and we find evidence that supports this assumption in our analysis of the German, Bulgarian and Portuguese courts. We show that two features of the types of procedure lead to a higher politicization of court decisions: lower legal requirements on the part of the applicants and broader opportunities for them to weaken political opponents. This kind of moderating effect appears equally for all groups of applicants.