Judging Russia: Constitutional Court in Russian Politics, 1990-2006

Alexei Trochev978-0-511-39684-7, 978-0-521-88743-4, 0521887437

This book is the first in-depth study of the actual role that the Russian Constitutional Court played in protecting fundamental rights and resolving legislative-executive struggles and federalism disputes in both Yeltsin’s and Putin’s Russia. Trochev argues that judicial empowerment is a non-linear process with unintended consequences and that courts that depend on their reputation flourish only if an effective and capable state is there to support them. This is because judges can rely only on the authoritativeness of their judgments, unlike politicians and bureaucrats, who have the material resources necessary to respond to judicial decisions. Drawing upon systematic analysis of all decisions of the Russian Court (published and unpublished) and previously unavailable materials on their (non-)implementation, and resting on a combination of the approaches from comparative politics, law, and public administration, this book shows how and why judges attempted to reform Russia’s governance and fought to ensure compliance with their judgments.

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Table of contents :
Half-title……Page 3
Title……Page 5
Copyright……Page 6
Contents……Page 7
List of Figures and Tables……Page 10
Acknowledgments……Page 11
Abbreviations……Page 13
Notes on Transliteration……Page 14
1 Introduction: Three Puzzles of Postcommunist Judicial Empowerment……Page 15
Judicial (dis) empowerment in context……Page 18
Why russia?……Page 24
The sources of data……Page 27
Overview of the book……Page 29
Design, judging, and compliance: a trilateral dynamic of judicial review……Page 33
New courts in new polities: nonlinear judicial empowerment……Page 38
Nonlinearity in transitional judicial politics……Page 52
Conclusion……Page 66
3 Making and Remaking Constitutional Review, Russian-Style……Page 68
Creating the ussr constitutional supervision committee: 1988–1990……Page 69
Designing the 1st russian constitutional court: 1990–1991……Page 75
Redesigning the russian constitutional court: the 1993 constitutional convention……Page 87
Enacting the 1994 russian constitutional court act……Page 93
Tinkering with the 1994 russian constitutional court act……Page 99
Conclusion……Page 104
4 Russian Constitutional Review in Action (1990–1993)……Page 107
Decision making of the ussr constitutional supervision committee: 1990–1991……Page 109
Decision making of the 1st russian constitutional court: 1992–1993……Page 113
Defining Separation of Powers……Page 118
Defining Russian Federalism……Page 123
Protecting Constitutional Rights……Page 125
Conclusion……Page 129
5 Decision Making of the 2nd Russian Constitutional Court: 1995–2006……Page 132
Decision-making procedures, decisions, and caseload……Page 134
Defining separation of powers……Page 141
Defining russian federalism……Page 153
Protecting constitutional rights……Page 172
Creating Rights……Page 180
Scrutinizing Limits on Basic Rights: Proportionality, Russian-Style……Page 182
Constitutional Principles: Written, Unwritten, and Borrowed……Page 187
Constitutional Equality: Formal and Real……Page 191
Elaborating Fairness……Page 193
Conclusion……Page 199
6 The Constitutional Court Has Ruled – What Next?……Page 202
The failure of the ussr constitutional supervision committee: 1990–1991……Page 203
Implementing Judgments in “Separation-of-Powers” Cases……Page 205
Implementing Judgments in “Federalism” Cases……Page 209
Implementing Judgments in Constitutional Rights Cases……Page 214
Conclusion……Page 219
7 The 2nd Russian Constitutional Court (1995–2007): Problematique of Implementation……Page 221
Enforcing the separation of powers……Page 223
“War of Courts,” Russian-Style……Page 228
Policing russian federalism……Page 235
Rights revolutions unfulfilled……Page 242
Due Process Rights in Criminal Procedure……Page 244
Rights of Bona Fide Taxpayers……Page 249
Social Rights: (Not) Compensating the Victims of Stalin’s Purges……Page 254
Regional Defiance: Land, Elections, and Propiska……Page 257
The Public Image of the Russian Constitutional Court……Page 261
Conclusion……Page 268
8 “Tinkering with Judicial Tenure” and “Wars of Courts” in Comparative Perspective……Page 272
“Tinkering with judicial tenure” in comparative perspective……Page 273
“Wars of courts” in comparative perspective……Page 279
Conclusion……Page 296
9 Conclusion: Zigzagging Judicial Power……Page 299
Puzzle 1: zigzags in designing russian constitutional review……Page 300
Puzzle 2: russian constitutional review in action……Page 301
Puzzle 3: successes and failures in implementing russian constitutional court decisions……Page 303
Puzzle 3.1: the “war of courts” in the russian federation……Page 306
Summary……Page 308
Alternative explanations of russian experiments with constitutional review……Page 309
Conclusion……Page 314
Appendix……Page 319
b. Constitutional Drafts……Page 321
d. Other Documents and Compilations……Page 322
b. Staff, Russian Constitutional Court……Page 323
3. Published interviews and speeches……Page 324
4. Russian sources on russia and the ussr……Page 326
-1994-……Page 351
-2002-……Page 352
-2007-……Page 353
-2007-……Page 354
Czech Republic……Page 355
Russia……Page 356
-1995-……Page 357
-1996-……Page 358
-1997-……Page 359
-1999-……Page 360
-2000-……Page 361
-2001-……Page 362
-2003-……Page 363
-2005-……Page 364
-2006-……Page 365
Index……Page 368