Constitutional court: regulation, politics and the human factor. The tightrope walker and the balance pole

• Pages: 453-465
• Author: Asunción De La Iglesia Chamarro

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CONSTITUTIONAL COURT: REGULATION, POLITICS AND

THE HUMAN FACTOR. THE TIGHTROPE WALKER AND THE

BALANCE POLE.1

ASUNCIÓN DE LA IGLESIA CHAMARRO



University of Navarre (UNAV). Spain.

SUMMARY: 1. PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS. 1.1. Constitutional

Court, Democracy and rule of law and their linked development. 1.2.

How to defend Democracy in a critical context: the capital role of judges

and Constitutional Courts. 1.3. A figure: the tightrope walker and the ba-

lance pole. 2. THE GUARDIAN FACED WITH THE POTENTIAL RISK FOR

THE FIRST DIVISION OF POWERS: CONSTITUENT AND CONSTITUTED

POWER. 3. CONSTITUTIONAL COURT: DIFFERENT TIMES, DIFFERENT

CONDITIONS, ADEQUATED PROFILES. 4. A BRIEF REFERENCE TO

THE SPANISH CASE. 4.1. The context and establishment. The first CC:

priority to protect and prolong the constitutional consensus. 4.2. The

composition: the symbolic number of twelve members and their plural

extraction. 4.3. Erosion: the political “capture”. Between the dreamed

Constitutional Court and the current Constitutional Court. 5. A PROPO-

SAL TO RECOVER PRESTIGE: JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE, SUITABILITY

AND THE HUMAN FACTOR. 5.1. Regulated suitability 5.2. Human factor:

Additional qualities. 5.3. Relational suitability. 6. TO FINISH: RETUR-

NING TO THE FIGURE OF THE TIGHTROPE WALKER: RECOVER PRES-

TIGE OR FALL.

1 Research Project MIC de I+D+I PID 2022-141112NB-100 “La importancia de la

independencia de la defensa del Tribunal Constitucional para la defensa de la democracia”. This text

is a continuation and development for a global context of a previous work focused on the Spanish

Constitutional Court published under the title “Sobre la idoneidad de los magistrados del Tribunal

Constitucional y los mecanismos y criterios de valoración”, RODRÍGUEZ-PATRÓN, Patricia and DE

LA IGLESIA CHAMARRO, Asunción (coors.), &!&&X<,

Aranzadi, 2025.