Courts under pressure: How populists seek to delegitimize independent judiciaries using social media

In recent years, many countries experienced an increased support for far-right populists whose ideology clashes with central tenets of liberal democracy. As part of these developments, counter-majoritarian institutions such as high courts and independent judiciaries have come under intense pressure from populist actors who regard them as illegitimate restrictions on the presumed will of the people. Where populists entered governments, e.g. in Hungary or Poland, populist attacks paved the way for institutional reforms that led to a systematic erosion of judicial independence. The literature has acknowledged the threat posed by these trends and explained how and why populist rebuild the institutional order once in power; however, scholars have so far largely neglected to analyse the relationship between populism and courts in cases where populist parties are in opposition or lack the necessary majorities for sweeping reforms. This paper proposes a more holistic engagement with populist attacks on high courts. We argue that populists engage in different strategies depending on their strength and governing status. In particular, we focus on strategies of delegitimization directed against court decisions, judges and the concept of judicial review that are employed when populist parties are not in a position to effect institutional change. Thereby, populists in opposition particularly benefit from the rise and use of social media, allowing them to circumvent the gate-keeping role of traditional journalism. We illustrate our arguments using empirical evidence from tweets of politicians from Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom.