Constitutional Courts After the Arab Spring: Appointment Mechanisms and Relative Judicial Independence

This report discusses and analyses four models for constitutional court appointments, with a particular emphasis on how effectively those models foster a sense of political investment on the part of multiple political actors. The four models are: (1) the legislative supermajority model; (2) the judicial council model; (3) the judicial-executive model; and (4) the multi-constituency model. The report examines how the four models have been applied in six countries: Germany, South Africa, Egypt, Iraq, Italy and Turkey. The report also compares the qualifications required for appointment to the constitutional court, and the rules for removing constitutional court judges, in these six countries.