ECJ Review of Member State Measures for Compliance with Fundamental Rights
UNION DE DROIT, UNION DES DROITS: MELANGES EN L’HONNEUR DE PHILIPPE MANIN, Forthcoming
9 Pages Posted: 18 Feb 2010
Date Written: June 29, 2009
Abstract
This essay explores the avenues through which a European-level system of fundamental rights might be effectively enforced against EU Member State measures. The parallel concept in the U.S. occurred when, starting in 1938, the U.S. Supreme Court began ruling that different distinct guarantees in the Federal Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution controlled State government measures. In the EU, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) could conceivably follow a similar line of development within the EU system, or, on the other hand, the European Court for Human Rights (ECtHR) could play that role. This essay explores these options and suggests that either one or the other is likely to emerge at some point in the future in a role equivalent to the U.S. Supreme Court as the guardian of fundamental rights for all EU citizens, articulated and enforced (even against Member State measures) at the European level.
Keywords: European Union, Fundamental Rights, European Court of Justice, European Court of Human Rights, Civil Rights, Judicial Review, ERT
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