ABSTRACT
Although the Czech Constitutional Court (CCC) started as a fairly low-key institution, nowadays it is often praised as a particularly strong actor of the domestic political system, thus earning a prominent position among the Central and East European constitutional courts. Yet, the evidence of the CCC’s activity and effect of its case law, especially towards the legislator, stands mostly on anecdotal evidence. This chapter aims to fill the gap in the existing literature and examines the role of the CCC in the legislative process and its relationship towards the Czech parliament. The chapter combines both quantitative analysis, building on a dataset produced by the JUDICON project, and qualitative assessment of the most important constitutional review cases delivered between 1993 and 2015. Recent developments, undue political pressure and interference with domestic courts sweeping through many CEE countries bring the question of the relationship between constitutional courts and parliaments to the forefront of academic attention. The chapter shows that the CCC built its renomé despite leaving the legislator much room to manoeuvre, which, in return, might have helped prevent more serious political interference and undue pressure.
