Judicial Decision-Making and Legitimacy Under Pressure and Protest

Abstract

This panel examines how courts navigate political pressure, protest, and legitimacy challenges in contemporary democracies. Bringing together quantitative, qualitative, and comparative perspectives, the papers analyze judicial behavior under court-curbing reforms, partisan framing, procedural rules, restrictive protest governance, and even off-bench judicial mobilization. Across cases ranging from Turkey, Poland, and the United States to Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America, the panel highlights how judicial decisions are shaped by political context, institutional design, intra-court dynamics, and social alliances. Collectively, the contributions move beyond static notions of judicial independence, conceptualizing courts as strategic, contested, and relational actors in times of democratic stress.

Title	Details
Defining Democratic Protest: Judicial Independence and the Governance of Dissent in Germany and the Netherlands	View Paper Details
Between Ideology, Strategy, and Polarization: Understanding Judicial Decision-Making Amid Court-Packing	View Paper Details
Judges on the Streets: Explaining Off-Bench Collective Mobilization by Judges Faced with Non-Existential Threats	View Paper Details
Vote Timing Affects Judicial Dissent: Evidence from Chile, Colombia, Spain, and the US	View Paper Details
Strategic Framing of Judicial Authority in Party Politics: A Comparative Analysis of the U.S. Supreme Court and the Polish Constitutional Tribunal	View Paper Details