Publication details
Embedding Strategies of the European Apex Courts: Why Court Communication with All Segments of Society Matters
| Authors | |
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| Year of publication | 2024 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | Repozitář MU - preprint článku |
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| Description | Traditional scholarship takes for granted that public trust in the judiciary and judicial independence go hand in hand and reinforce each other. However, recent studies have shown that the relationship between these values is far more complicated, and court-curbing can find support among the people. The existing empirical studies suggests that this might be due to at least three factors – the role of education, the role of the media, and the role of political preferences. In this article I suggest that, due to the changing nature of the polarization of Western societies, another important factor should be taken into account in assessing this relationship, namely court communication with various segments of the society, including the ordinary people. More specifically, my key argument is two-fold. First, we live in the disinformation age and apex courts can easily be portrayed as detached from the ordinary people. This endangers their social embeddedness, which in turn might increase the likelihood of the acceptance of court-curbing. Second, apex courts should proactively respond to this challenge by adopting embedding strategies aimed at all segments of society, and not just the (legal) elites. This article then identifies four such strategies that apex courts can employ to do so: (1) the media strategy; (2) proactive engagement with the precariat via “reaching out” activities such as social events and holding hearings outside the courts’ seats; (3) minimalization of controversial off-the-bench activities of judges; and (4) self-awareness and avoidance of structural judicial bias. Finally, I discuss the risks and limits which courts and judges face when they engage in these embedding strategies. |