Yesterday the VU Law Faculty hosted Professor Wanda Mastor, Associate Professor of Public Law and Director of the Centre of Comparative Law at the Capitol University. She gave a lecture on “A Tale of Two Constitutionalisms” and presented the differences between judicial review in Europe and in United States of America.
In order to ensure the legitimacy of issued laws, judicial review institutions began to emerge in the 20th century in European countries and their aims were to check the constitutionality of laws, to deal with electoral issues, and to resolve problems between the central and regional governments. During the lecture, the professor presented the peculiarities of the composition of constitutional courts in different European countries and the requirements for constitutional judges.
However, not all countries have constitutional courts exercising judicial review. In France, the Constitutional Council plays this role and, according to W. Mastor, former presidents can become members of it. Moreover, there is no requirement for members of the French Constitutional Council to have an eduaction of law or other special competences.
After discussing the peculiarities of judicial review in European countries, the professor presented the composition and responsibilities of the USA Supreme Court, which is responsible for checking the constitutionality of congressional and presidential decrees.