Review article
Judicial review of referenda decisions in federal States of The USA
Biljana Kostadinov
orcid.org/0000-0002-7504-3051
; Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Sanja Barić
orcid.org/0000-0001-6496-9062
; Faculty of Law, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia
Abstract
The authors analyse judicial review of referendum decisions in federal States of the United States of America with regard to the protection of minority rights. In introduction, they explain the difference in the basic functioning of two-tier constitutional systems – federal level and state level. The Constitution of the United States of America is based on indirect popular acceptance and complex majorities, while the constitutions of the federal States are the instrument of majoritarian democracy. In the second part of the paper, the authors explain the election of judges in federal States, and in the third part they give a historical review of racist popular initiatives as well as more recent
tendencies aimed against immigrants and homosexuals. The paper also
contains technical criteria in the practice of the State courts. In the fourth part of the paper, the authors argument in favour of judicial review by the federal courts, analyse the practice of the Supreme Court of the United States with regard to the principle of equality in general, and then in relation to the adopted regulations. The authors have recognised the existence of the fundamental constitutional right to equal citizens’ participation in society. Finally, they point out the importance of corrective function of judicial review over the forms of direct democracy, as well as the significance of its proper scope.
Keywords
direct democracy; popular initiative; referendum; the Constitution of the United States of America; constitutions of the federal States; the principle of equality; human rights; minority rights
Hrčak ID:
135914
URI
Publication date:
25.9.2006.
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