University of Wisconsin–Madison

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Gárdos-Orosz & Szente (2021), Populist Challenges to Constitutional Interpretation in Europe and Beyond

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Gárdos-Orosz, Fruzsina & Szente, Zoltán (eds.). Populist Challenges to Constitutional Interpretation in Europe and Beyond. Routledge, Taylor & Francis, 2021. DOI: 10.4324/9781003148944. Available at: https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/49404 This edited volume examines how populist governments and movements influence the theory and practice of constitutional interpretation. The book asks whether populist regimes generate new interpretive doctrines or simply instrumentalize …

Baraybar & Gonzalez-Ocantos (2022), “Prosecutorial Agency, Backlash and Resistance in the Peruvian Chapter of Lava Jato”

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Baraybar, V., & Gonzalez-Ocantos, E. (2022). Prosecutorial Agency, Backlash and Resistance in the Peruvian Chapter of Lava Jato. In S. Botero, D. M. Brinks, & E. A. Gonzalez-Ocantos (Eds.), The Limits of Judicialization: From Progress to Backlash in Latin America (pp. 314–340). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Peru’s chapter of Lava Jato became one of the …

Kapiszewski (2011), “Tactical Balancing: High Court Decision Making on Politically Crucial Cases”

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Kapiszewski, Diana. Tactical Balancing: High Court Decision Making on Politically Crucial Cases (2011). Law & Society Review, 45(2), 471–506. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5893.2011.00437.x High court decision making in politically sensitive cases cannot be fully understood through ideological or strategic models alone. Kapiszewski advances the thesis of tactical balancing, arguing that justices weigh a specific set of considerations—including their …

Delaney, Dixon & Kosař (2025), “Chief Justices and Democratic Resilience: Judicial Leadership in Times of Constitutional Crisis”

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Delaney, Erin F., Rosalind Dixon, and David Kosař. Chief Justices and Democratic Resilience: Judicial Leadership in Times of Constitutional Crisis (2025). International Journal of Constitutional Law, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 148–159. Chief justices play a pivotal role in safeguarding judicial legitimacy and democratic resilience, especially during periods of constitutional crisis. The authors argue that …

Garcia Holgado & Sánchez Urribarri (2023), “Court-packing and democratic decay: A necessary relationship?”

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Garcia Holgado, Benjamin & Sánchez Urribarri, Raúl. Court-packing and democratic decay: A necessary relationship? Global Constitutionalism 12(2): 350–377 (2023). This article challenges the common assumption that court-packing and democratic erosion are inherently linked. Drawing on rich case studies of Argentina under Carlos Menem (1989–1999) and Venezuela under Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro (1999–present), the authors …

Gamboa et al. (2024), “Courts against backsliding: Lessons from Latin America”

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Gamboa, Laura; García-Holgado, Benjamín; & González-Ocantos, Ezequiel. Courts against backsliding: Lessons from Latin America. Law & Policy 46(4): 358–379 (2024). Across Latin America’s recent wave of democratic erosion, courts have often been portrayed as victims of executive encroachment or as instruments weaponized by autocrats. This article develops a different analytical frame by highlighting cases in …

Aguiar Aguilar (2012). “Institutional changes in the public prosecutor’s office: The cases of Mexico, Chile and Brazil”

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Aguilar, A. (2012). Institutional changes in the public prosecutor’s office: The cases of Mexico, Chile and Brazil. Mexican law review, 4(2), 261-290. Given the critical role played by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in the criminal justice system, the reform of its powers and underlying framework is fundamental in enhancing the rule of law and democracy. …

Aguiar Aguilar (2023), “Courts and the Judicial Erosion of Democracy in Latin America”

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Aguiar Aguilar, A. A. (2023). Courts and the judicial erosion of democracy in Latin America. Politics & Policy, 51(1), 7-25. How are courts used to erode democracy? Using the literature on democratic backsliding and judicial politics as a theoretical framework, in this work, Aguiar Aguilar shows the path of how courts are captured by incumbents and then …

Batesmith (2023), “Lawyers Who Want to Make the World a Better Place – Scheingold and Sarat’s Something to Believe In: Politics, Professionalism, and Cause Lawyering”

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Batesmith, Alex. “Lawyers Who Want to Make the World a Better Place – Scheingold and Sarat’s Something to Believe In: Politics, Professionalism, and Cause Lawyering.” In Leading Works on the Legal Profession, 1st ed., Routledge, 2023. Scheingold and Sarat’s Something to Believe In (2004) remains a foundational statement on cause lawyering—one that challenges the narrow …

Batesmith & McEvoy (2025), “‘Closeted’ Cause Lawyering in Authoritarian Cambodia”

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Batesmith, Alex, and Kieran McEvoy. “‘Closeted’ Cause Lawyering in Authoritarian Cambodia.” Law & Society Review 59 (2025): 463–495. doi:10.1017/lsr.2025.29. In this article, the authors analyze how lawyers in Cambodia pursue social justice, human rights, and rule-of-law commitments while navigating an increasingly repressive authoritarian environment. Drawing from seven years of interviews with 37 Cambodian lawyers and …