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Aspirational constitutionalism, social rights prolixity and judicial activism: trilogy or trinity?

dc.contributor.authorBotelho, Catarina Santos
dc.date.accessioned2018-07-19T13:34:59Z
dc.date.available2018-07-19T13:34:59Z
dc.date.issued2017
dc.description.abstractThe epistemic community of constitutionalists and experts in public law is called to critically examine the main assumptions of fundamental social rights theory and its evident impact on the distribution of power among political actors. This article argues that the challenge of social rights’ enforceability is clearly exacerbated in austerity contexts and within the framework of strong judicial review models. One can question not only the legitimacy of downsizing legislation on social rights protection during economic setbacks, but also the constitutional courts’ authority to dispute this kind of reformatio in pejus. From this perspective, the author would analyze the interesting evolution of the Portuguese Constitutional Court’s jurisprudence of crisis. Given their extensive commitment to social rights, aspirational constitutions leave more room for institutional tensions between democratic deliberation/popular sovereignty and an over-extended judicial power. Therefore, a too ambitious or unrealistic constitutional text may seduce judges to colonize political and economic issues. Precisely for that reason, this paper focuses on Brazilian right-to-health litigation, hoping to contribute to a puzzling and highly controversial constitutional debate: whether the so-called “judicial activism” is an illegitimate juristocracy or just compliance with the constitutional text?
dc.description.versioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionpt_PT
dc.identifier.citationBotelho, C. S. (2017). Aspirational constitutionalism, social rights prolixity and judicial activism: trilogy or trinity?. Comparative Constitutional Law and Administrative Law Quarterly, 3(4), 62-87pt_PT
dc.identifier.issn2347-4351
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/25257
dc.language.isoengpt_PT
dc.peerreviewedyespt_PT
dc.publisherNational Law University
dc.titleAspirational constitutionalism, social rights prolixity and judicial activism: trilogy or trinity?pt_PT
dc.typejournal article
dspace.entity.typePublication
oaire.citation.endPage87pt_PT
oaire.citation.issue4pt_PT
oaire.citation.startPage62pt_PT
oaire.citation.titleComparative Constitutional Law and Administrative Law Quarterlypt_PT
oaire.citation.volume3pt_PT
person.familyNameSantos Botelho
person.givenNameCatarina
person.identifier.ciencia-idA712-EADD-7755
person.identifier.orcid0000-0002-6076-1835
rcaap.rightsopenAccesspt_PT
rcaap.typearticlept_PT
relation.isAuthorOfPublication99d78aa6-20a7-4ec1-9adf-412077ec293b
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery99d78aa6-20a7-4ec1-9adf-412077ec293b

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