The Portuguese Constitutional Court

This chapter will explore the relationship established between the Portuguese Constitutional Court and the legislative branch, seeking to analyze to what extent the current model results in a collaborative model in which the PCC does not overstep its jurisdictional and constitutional boundaries. Particular attention is paid to the decisions laid down between 2011 and 2014 when Portugal was under a financial bailout from the so-called “Troika”. During this period, the debate around the place occupied by the judiciary and by the PCC, in relation to the legislative power, gained centrality, since the PCC was called upon to rule on the constitutional conformity of some austerity measures, which led to the production of decisions that came to be known as the crisis jurisprudence.