The Politics of Law and Courts

International and domestic courts play an important role in modern politics: they constrain policy choices, resolve high-stakes political conflicts and their jurisprudence shapes our fundamental rights. Yet, courts themselves come under pressure from governmental actors, are instrumentalized by litigants and must justify their decisions to sceptical audiences. This Section invites diverse scholarship exploring how courts navigate their opportunities and challenges in modern societies. 1 Decision-making on the bench Chair: Benjamin Engst Courts often play a significant role in shaping public policy and influencing political outcomes. At the same time, courts themselves are shaped by the environment in which they operate. This panel will delve into the factors that influence judicial behavior in both national and international courts. The topics include the influence of judges’ gender or political affiliation on case outcomes, the use of preliminary references, and the politics of using international precedents in domestic courts. 2 Informality and institutional design of judicial bodies Chair: Katarína Šipulová Despite appearing as overly formal institutions, courts are subject to informality. While recent scholarly interest in informal judicial institutions has centred on corruption, clientelism, or factors influencing impartiality, their effect runs much deeper. Informal rules empower some actors and weaken others in ways we fail to understand when examining only formal structures. This Panel on informality in judicial governance explores how the discrepancy between de jure and de facto dimensions of judicial independence, accountability, or power distribution is formed in practice. 3 The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and digital transformation: A responsive court? Chair: Federica Casarosa This Panel examines the CJEU’s decisions in cases concerned with digitalisation and new technologies from a fundamental rights perspective. It explores the CJEU’s contribution to the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms as well as their interpretation in these cases. The Panel examines how the CJEU interacts with national courts, governments and civil society actors that seek to influence or uphold its rulings. It aims to understand how the CJEU responds to national and transnational digital rights claims and the effects of such claims. 4 Courts and communication Chair: Cordula Tibi Weber Courts have shown an increased interest in communicating with the public through press releases, social media, or their judgments. Existing literature suggests that courts communicate to increase their institutional legitimacy or enhance compliance, while novel ideational accounts highlight institutional transparency and openness to society. This Panel invites Papers that investigate how courts communicate with the public, how they are covered by the media, the motivations for and effects of communication on courts’ institutional legitimacy, and their relationship with the elected branches. 5 Courts, judges, and the public in non-democracies Chair: Yulia Khalikova In past decades, we have witnessed examples of elected authoritarian leaders curtailing the judiciary’s power. Studies show that court curbing violates the rule of law, generates institutional crises, erodes judicial independence, and fosters subservient judicial behaviour. Yet, we know little about factors that affect autocrats’ decision to attack the judiciary, how they justify their attacks to the public, or how citizens respond to these actions. This Panel invites Papers exploring how and under which conditions autocrats attack the judiciary, courts’ responses, and how attacks influence public attitudes. 6 Constitutional pluralism and the role of courts in the European judicial network: Competition, dialogue, or backlash? Chair: Stefan Thierse Constitutional pluralism describes a configuration of multiple sources of (quasi-)constitutional rights existing alongside each other in a legal system. In EU member states, the proliferation of judicial review and incorporation of international fundamental rights catalogues into domestic law created new opportunities for rights claiming while undercutting the role of national constitutions regulating public authority. This Panel unpacks the effects of constitutional pluralism on fundamental rights protection, interactions between domestic and international courts, and the instrumentalization of constitutional courts by private and political actors. 7 Should judicial voices be heard? New directions on freedom of expression from supranational and national courts Chair: Madalina Moraru The role of judges as civil servants influences how their freedom of expression can be exercised. Recently, judges’ freedom of expression has featured in addressing threats to the rule of law, emanating not only from governments but also from within the judiciary. This Panel seeks Papers addressing the role of courts in shaping standards on judges’ freedom of expression, how judicial interaction techniques contribute to safeguarding the rule of law, and how the rule of law crisis has influenced developments regarding freedom of expression in courts. 8 Conflict resolution in times of backlash Chair: Andreas Corcaci The success of multilateral agreements in tackling societies’ most pressing challenges hinges on effective mechanisms to resolve conflicts and ensure compliance. However, multilateral cooperation, including agreements on environmental protection or combatting climate change, have been attacked by autocratic and populist governments. We know little about how backlash against multilateral cooperation impacts compliance mechanisms and conflict resolution through courts, including the implementation of agreements and judgements. This Panel invites Papers from political scientists, legal scholars, and researchers from adjacent fields who study these processes from conceptual, empirical, and normative perspectives. 9 Domestic politics and international law Chair: Øyvind Stiansen International law has become a vital part of the global landscape. Nonetheless, recently, more and more states have been contesting and challenging international order. Thus, it is crucial to examine both the functioning of international courts and how domestic courts approach international law. This panel explores the tactics international courts can use to protect their independence and encourage state compliance. Additionally, it examines how domestic judges balance between national and international law, including the politics of citations to international precedents. 10 The protection of rule of law: between dialogue and enforcement Chair: Urszula Jaremba The rule of law has been under pressure in recent years. Several EU Member States have taken measures that undermine the independence of the judiciary or the protection of fundamental rights more generally. The papers in this panel analyse how the rule of law can best be protected. To what extent and how does the dialogue via the preliminary ruling procedure (Article 267 TFEU) work in relation to rule of law problems, also from the perspective of the referring court? Is the infringement procedure better geared to address rule of law backsliding? 11 Analysing legal text Chair: Philipp Schroeder Language is the weapon of choice in courtrooms. This Panel invites Papers that leverage a diverse set of methods – from machine learning applications to qualitative text analysis – to study a broad variety of sources of legal texts. The Panel welcomes studies of court judgments, lawyers’ pleas and third-party submissions that allow us to learn more about the motivations of relevant actors in judicial proceedings at both domestic and international courts.