The judge of the Portuguese Constitutional Court, Maria Benedita Urbano, warned in Macau about the increase in pressures and attacks aimed at constitutional magistrates in consolidated democracies. During the 29th Public Law Professors Meeting, the magistrate linked this trend to the rise of populist and authoritarian movements, emphasizing that the Constitutional Court has become a priority target for those who intend to dismantle the democratic Rule of Law.
According to the counselor and professor at the University of Coimbra, the Constitutional Court is the institution tasked with defending fundamental rights, ensuring equality in political competition, and guaranteeing the balance between State powers. Urbano warned that the Covid-19 pandemic functioned as a "perfect storm" to accelerate these currents by imposing exceptional restrictions on individual freedoms.
Maria Benedita Urbano listed various methods used internationally to mitigate the action of constitutional courts, including financial asphyxiation, limitation of jurisprudence, public delegitimization campaigns, and changes to the model for appointing judges. The magistrate cited as an example the actions of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil against the Supreme Federal Court.
The statements come in a context of political friction in Portugal. Last May, the vice-president of the Chega parliamentary bench, Cristina Rodrigues, accused the TC of "political activism" after the court rejected, for unconstitutionality, the norm that provided for loss of nationality as an accessory sanction. The judge rejected proposals to change the composition of the Portuguese TC, warning that changes to the appointment system could favor the executive's control over the judiciary.
