Politics, Judicial Review, and the Russian Constitutional Court Book

List of Tables x

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xvi

Notes on Transliteration xvii

List of Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Foreign Phrases xviii

1 The Russian Constitutional Court in Comparative Perspective 1

Comparing constitutional courts 2

Comparative constitutional law and courts 3

Socialist law and the Soviet legacy 6

Theoretical considerations 12

What makes a constitutional court independent and powerful? 12

First stage: Why create an independent constitutional court? 13

Second stage: Why do constitutional courts become powerful? 19

2 Establishing Judicial Review in Russia 28

The USSR Constitutional Oversight Committee, 1989-91 30

Powers and jurisdiction 32

Appointments 33

The first Russian Constitutional Court, 1991-93 33

Powers and jurisdiction 36

Appointments 39

The second Constitutional Court, 1994-2010 41

Powers and jurisdiction 44

Appointments 47

Conclusions 51

3 The Politics of Judicial Review in Russia, 1989-2010: Which Politicians Use Constitutional Courts? 52

The petitioners 52

The Soviet Constitutional Oversight Committee, 1989-91 53

The first Russian Constitutional Court, Chairman Zorkin, 1991-93 55

The second Russian Constitutional Court, Chairman Tumanov, 1995-96 58

The second Russian Constitutional Court, Chairman Baglai, 1997-2003, and Chairman Zorkin, 2003-10 63

4 USSR Constitutional Oversight Committee, 1989-91: The First Failure 65

Decisions of the USSR Constitutional Oversight Committee 66

Executive-legislative relations 66

Federal relations 69

The first failure 73

5 The First Russian Constitutional Court, 1991-93: How Do Politicians Use Constitutional Courts? 75

Decisions of the first Russian Constitutional Court 76

Interbranch disputes 78

Intrabranch disputes 92

Federal relations 95

Rejected petitions 99

The second failure 100

Background: The Constitutional Debate, 1990-92 102

The March crisis 106

Constitutional Assembly: Summer 1993 112

The fall of the first Russian Republic 114

Why did the constitutional court survive? 117

6 The Second Russian Constitutional Court, 1994-2010: How Do Constitutional Courts Become Guarantors of Fair Rules of the Game? 120

Chairmanship of Vladimir Tumanov, 1995-96 121

Interpreting constitutional provisions 125

Interbranch disputes 129

Defining federal relations 140

Chairmanship of Marat Baglai, 1997-2003 144

Tenure and appointment procedures 147

Relocation to St. Petersburg 149

Chairmanship of Valerii Zorkin Redux, 2003-10 150

Procedures for appointing/dismissing the chief justice 151

Collegiality 152

Conclusion 153

7 Three Attempts to Establish Judicial Review in Russia: What Constitutes Success? 155

Appendix I Constitutional Court Justices, 1991-2010 161

Appendix II Terms of Russian Constitutional Court Justices 163

Notes 164

Bibliography 184

Index 194