Overcoming power asymmetries: How a Christian Right NGO drove the European Court of Human Rights to reform itself

This paper elucidates how a Christian Right NGO in Strasbourg compelled the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to implement internal reforms to the procedures of recusal that will constrain the Court's discretion. This outcome is notable for several reasons. The few Christian Right NGOs in Strasbourg are of American origin, notably the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) and Alliance Defending Freedom, who deploy their litigation experience earned in the USA to influence European human rights jurisprudence in the direction of conservative Christian values. Unlike their liberal counterparts, who coordinate more strategically and enjoy significant private and government subvention, Christian Right NGOs have limited resources and lack solidarity. Being exceptional, they are also marginalized or excluded from CoE decision-making processes that are accessible to liberal NGOs. How could one NGO that was often outright "demonized", according to a CoE insider, manage to exert such influence? The ECLJ challenged the ECtHR judges' past ties to liberal NGOs, releasing reports and waging a campaign highlighting judges who omitted to recuse themselves in cases to which NGOs they had lately associated with were parties. Thus, the Court's actual composition biases its decisions against conservative values and preferred norms. ECLJ deployed their connections with certain political factions in member-State governments and alternative media to embroil the ECtHR in a scandal that forced institutional reform. Despite being ignored by mainstream media and disliked by the CoE institution, the ECLJ achieved a partial victory: the Court responded by revising its recusal rules so as to make it harder for judges to evade it. More far-reaching changes, however, such as the requirement of candidates to disclose their interests in parties and causes during the selection and appointment stages for judicial office, were unsuccessful. This paper examines the causal nexus behind this outcome.