Tipping the Balance? Politics, Personalities and Institutions in the Philippine Supreme Court

Title
Tipping the Balance? Politics, Personalities and Institutions in the Philippine Supreme Court
Publication Date
2024-05
Author(s)
Deinla, Imelda
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8230-3050
Email: ideinla@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:ideinla
Reyes, Maria Lulu
Editor
Editor(s): Rood, Steven and Taylor, Veronica
Type of document
Book Chapter
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
ISEAS Publishing
Place of publication
Singapore
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/59736
Abstract

The 2018 removal from office of Maria Lourdes Sereno, the first woman chief justice of the Philippine Supreme Court, provokes us to rethink our assumptions about the power of the judiciary within the democratic system of government. The judiciary is often regarded as the weakest branch of government, having no power of coercion and being dependent on the executive or the legislative branches of government for enforcement or compliance. The democratization movement that swept many parts of the world in the 1980s brought a new salience for courts in policing constitutional overreach and abuse of power that had been the hallmark of authoritarian regimes (Ginsburg 2003). Constitutional developments that granted courts review powers and autonomy have created opportunities for the judiciaries to test the efficacy of their authority and reshape their relations with political actors. Courts' performances in consolidating democracy and forging the rule of law in democratizing countries have been uneven; their authority has also been constantly challenged or under threat.

Link
Citation
Contesting the Philippines, p. 149-170
ISBN
9789815104929
9789815104912
9789815104936
Start page
149
End page
170

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