ABSTRACT
Where the Italian Constitutional Court stands on the metric of power is not fixed. However, the attitude of the Court has been marked, overall, by a readiness to intervene in the face of persistent legislative inertia. This chapter intends to demonstrate the various forms this ‘judicial activism’ has taken. Starting from the distinction among non-legislative, legislative, and co-legislative functions, the chapter first analyses how each category played out at the sub-constitutional level, and then at the constitutional level. Crucially, it then moves to explore the shifting balance between judicial activism and self-restraint the Court tried to reach in the sixty-five years of its functioning. The principal findings could be summarized as follows: there is a linear progression of the Court towards an expansion of its powers; the 1970s mark the begin of a phase of ‘politicization’ of constitutional justice, especially due to the creation of a sophisticated set of manipulative decisions.
