Picking Popes? The Selection of High Court Justices in Transitional Democracies

The scholarship on the selection of high court justices is particularly rich in North America and growing in other Western countries. However, there is still a substantial lack of research on the selection of high court justices in transitional democracies. Crucially, the selection mechanism is key to the courts' legitimacy. The aim of this paper is to advance research on the selection of high court justices in transitional democracies. More specifically, the paper will discuss selection of justices in Central America (Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia) and the Balkans (Bosnia, Kosovo). It will not be limited to describe the mechanisms of selection of justices, but empirically study the selection mechanisms and the factors that play a role in it. It will equally shed light on the consequences of selection on the “input legitimacy of courts,” i.e. its ability to be representative of different groups in society. Co-author Aida Araceli Patino Alvarez