Judicial Review and Political Legitimacy

Abstract

This article analyzes the relationship between a judicial review of legislation and the principle of political legitimacy understood as the capacity of a legal and political system to generate support for the implementation of laws and policies, even among those who are opposed to them on their merits. The article claims that, despite the existence of multiple forms of judicial review, as well as diverse and respectable sources of legitimacy, judicial review is not designed to generate political legitimacy. In this sense, given the impossibility of solving this ‘democratic difficulty,’ the article proposes different approaches that might help to mitigate it, as is the case of judicial super-majorities to strike down legislation, following a strong presumption of constitutionality or offering explicit reasons for addressing these democratic concerns. Finally, the article calls for civility in constitutional litigation in order to prevent demonization of the opponent and to open the door to political legitimacy in the context of judicial review.