Courts in Latin America

354 Pages·2011·1.677 MB·English

by  Gretchen Helmke, Julio Rios-Figueroa

This page intentionally left blank
courts in latin america
To what extent do courts in Latin America protect individual rights and limit govern-
ments? This book answers these fundamental questions by bringing together today’s
leadingscholarsofjudicialpolitics.DrawingonexamplesfromArgentina,Brazil,Chile,
Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Bolivia, the authors demonstrate that there is
widespread variation in the performance of Latin America’s constitutional courts. In
accountingforthisvariation,thecontributorspushforwardongoingdebatesaboutwhat
motivatesjudges;whetherinstitutions,partisanpolitics,andpublicsupportshapeinter-
branchrelations;andtheimportanceofjudicialattitudesandlegalculture.Theauthors
deploy a range of methods, including qualitative case studies, paired country compar-
isons,statisticalanalysis,andgametheory.
Gretchen Helmke is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of
Rochester. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 2000. She has
receivedfellowshipsfromtheWeatherheadCenterforInternationalandAreaStudies
atHarvardUniversity,theKelloggInstituteforInternationalStudiesattheUniversityof
NotreDame,andtheWoodrowWilsonInternationalCenterforScholarsinWashing-
ton,D.C.Shehaspublishedtwobooks:CourtsunderConstraints:Judges,Generals,and
Presidents in Argentina (2005) andInformal Institutions and Democracy: Lessons from
LatinAmerica(coeditedwithStevenLevitsky;2006).Shehasalsopublishednumerous
articles in leading political science journals on comparative political institutions, the
ruleoflaw,andLatinAmericanpolitics.
JulioR´ıos-FigueroaisAssistantProfessorintheDivisionofPoliticalStudiesatCentrode
Investigacio´nyDocenciaEcono´micasinMexicoCity.HereceivedhisPh.D.fromNew
YorkUniversity(NYU)in2006.HewasaHauserResearchScholarattheNYUSchoolof
Lawduringtheacademicyear2006–2007.Hehaspublishedarticlesontheruleoflaw,
LatinAmericanpolitics,andtheemergenceandperformanceofjudicialinstitutionsin
journalssuchasComparativePolitics,JournalofLatinAmericanStudies,Comparative
PoliticalStudies,andLatinAmericanPoliticsandSociety.Heiscurrentlyworkingona
bookprojectonthejudicialconstructionofdueprocessrightsinLatinAmerica.

Courts in Latin America
Editedby
GRETCHEN HELMKE
UniversityofRochester,DepartmentofPoliticalScience
´
JULIO RIOS-FIGUEROA
CentrodeInvestigacio´nyDocenciaEcono´micas,Divisio´ndeEstudiosPol´ıticos
cambridgeuniversitypress
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,Singapore,
Sa˜oPaulo,Delhi,Dubai,Tokyo,MexicoCity
CambridgeUniversityPress
32AvenueoftheAmericas,NewYork,ny10013-2473,usa
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107001091
(cid:2)C CambridgeUniversityPress2011
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2011
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationdata
CourtsinLatinAmerica/editedbyGretchenHelmke,JulioR´ıos-Figueroa.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-1-107-00109-1(hardback)
1.Constitutionalcourts–LatinAmerica. 2.Courtsoflastresort–LatinAmerica. 3.Judicial
process–LatinAmerica. 4.Civilrights–LatinAmerica. I.Helmke,Gretchen,1967–
II.R´ıosFigueroa,Julio.
kg501.c68 2011
347.8(cid:3)035–dc22 2010038589
isbn978-1-107-00109-1Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyofurlsforexternalor
third-partyInternetWebsitesreferredtointhispublicationanddoesnotguaranteethatanycontenton
suchWebsitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
Contents
Contributors pagevii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: CourtsinLatinAmerica 1
GretchenHelmkeandJulioR´ıos-Figueroa
1 InstitutionsforConstitutionalJusticeinLatinAmerica 27
JulioR´ıos-Figueroa
2
EnforcingRightsandExercisinganAccountabilityFunction:Costa
Rica’sConstitutionalChamberoftheSupremeCourt 55
BruceM.Wilson
3
StrategicDeferenceintheColombianConstitutionalCourt,
1992–2006 81
JuanCarlosRodr´ıguez-Raga
4
FromQuietismtoIncipientActivism:TheInstitutionaland
IdeologicalRootsofRightsAdjudicationinChile 99
JavierCousoandLisaHilbink
5
“FaithfulServantsoftheRegime”:TheBrazilianConstitutional
Court’sRoleunderthe1988Constitution 128
DanielM.Brinks
6
PowerBroker,PolicyMaker,orRightsProtector?TheBrazilian
SupremoTribunalFederalinTransition 154
DianaKapiszewski
v
vi Contents
7
LegalistversusInterpretativist:TheSupremeCourtandthe
DemocraticTransitioninMexico 187
AriannaSa´nchez,BeatrizMagaloni,andEricMagar
8
ATheoryofthePoliticallyIndependentJudiciary:AComparative
StudyoftheUnitedStatesandArgentina 219
RebeccaBillCha´vez,JohnA.Ferejohn,andBarryR.Weingast
9 Courts,Power,andRightsinArgentinaandChile 248
DruscillaScribner
10 Bolivia:TheRise(andFall)ofJudicialReview 278
AndreaCastagnolaandAn´ıbalPe´rez-Lin˜a´n
11
ThePuzzlingJudicialPoliticsofLatinAmerica:ATheoryof
Litigation,JudicialDecisions,andInterbranchConflict 306
GretchenHelmkeandJeffreyK.Staton
Index 332
Contributors
DanielM.Brinks,UniversityofTexasatAustin
AndreaCastagnola,FacultadLatinoamericanadeCienciasSociales,MexicoCity
RebeccaBillCha´vez,U.S.NavalAcademy,Annapolis,Maryland
JavierCouso,UniversidadDiegoPortales,Santiago
JohnA.Ferejohn,NewYorkUniversity,NewYork
GretchenHelmke,UniversityofRochester,NewYork
LisaHilbink,UniversityofMinnesota,TwinCities
DianaKapiszewski,UniversityofCalifornia,Irvine
BeatrizMagaloni,StanfordUniversity,PaloAlto,California
EricMagar,InstitutoTecnolo´gicoAuto´nomodeMe´xico,MexicoCity
An´ıbalPe´rez-Lin˜a´n,UniversityofPittsburgh,Pennsylvania
JulioR´ıos-Figueroa,CentrodeInvestigacio´nyDocenciaEcono´micas,MexicoCity
JuanCarlosRodr´ıguez-Raga,UniversidaddelosAndes,Bogota´
AriannaSa´nchez,Curtis,Mallet-Prevost,Colt,andMosleLLP,NewYorkCity
DruscillaScribner,UniversityofWisconsin,Oshkosh
JeffreyK.Staton,EmoryUniversity,Atlanta,Georgia
BarryR.Weingast,StanfordUniversity,PaloAlto,California
BruceM.Wilson,UniversityofCentralFlorida,Orlando
vii