David Sobreira (Harvard University – Harvard Law School) has posted How Courts Die (50 Vermont Law Review (forthcoming 2025)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
The new wave of global autocratization seems to be here to stay. Reports from the V-Dem Institute demonstrate that in 2023, at least 42 countries were undergoing (or continue to undergo) a process of autocratization. In this context, the present work aims to evaluate a particular strategy used by authoritarian agents seeking to entrench themselves in power permanently: court capture. The objective of this work is to assess how such acts occur and what can be done to prevent them from materializing. To this end, the work begins with the presentation of a conceptual framework (court taming) and typological proposal for evaluating measures to reform supreme courts and constitutional courts. Based on this framework, six case studies (Venezuela, Turkey, Hungary, Poland, El Salvador, and Israel) are presented, which have experienced processes or attempts to tame their courts. Subsequently, drawing on the experience of these countries, the work presents ideas on how a system can be improved to protect Supreme and Constitutional Courts.
Recommended.