The Colombian Constitutional Court and Sustained Judicial Power - Conferencias especiales - Balance de 25 años de jurisprudencia de la Corte Constitucional - Libros y Revistas - VLEX 850232469

The Colombian Constitutional Court and Sustained Judicial Power

AutorDavid E. Landau
Cargo del AutorDoctor in Jurisprudence and Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University
Páginas575-583
575
The Colombian Constitutional
Court and Sustained Judicial
Power
DAvID E. LANDAu*
I want to discuss the Colombian Constitutional Court in light of a problem
one might call institutionalized judicial activism. What I mean by this is
a court that manages to exercise a high level of intervention on politics
and society over a long period.
My starting point here is some observations by Mark Tushnet in some
of his recent talks. It is very common for the first constitutional court after
the founding to be something like a “heroic court”. Often this is a court
that because it is writing on a blank slate, with high expectations. It is very
common for this court to issue some extraordinary decisions, and to make
a significant impact on the political system. Tushnet was speaking in this
case at a conference including justices of the Indonesian Constitutional
Court, but I think the observation is applicable to many other cases in
the world including, for example, the Constitutional Courts of Hungary
and South Africa. The problem, in Tushnet’s view, is what happens after
that first court. According to Tushnet, the normal path is for there to be
a significant drop off in activism and sometimes in quality concerning a
constitutional court after the first court. This can be a steep drop some-
times, as in Indonesia, or a more gradual drop. But there almost always is
* Doctor in Jurisprudence and Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University. He is Associate
Dean of International Programs at the College of Law-Florida State University and has published
in several journals, such as the Harvard International Law Journal, the UC Davis Law Review, the
Boston College Law Review and the Alabama Law Review. In 2011, he served as a consultant on
constitutional matters for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Honduras.
25AñosJurisprudenciaTACO.indd 575 16/10/19 15:22

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