Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.3935/zpfz.76.4.1
The Political Agenda of the “Shadow Docket” as a Negation of the Constitutional Separation of Powers
Arsen Bačić
; Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The paper illustrates a case of disruption to the system of separation of powers arising from the secrecy of certain procedures that de facto exempt state authorities from democratic control. It briefly points out the significance of the principle of arcana imperii, the durability of its modern derivatives, the undeniable importance of the separation of powers for a constitutionally democratic state, the criticism of the revitalization of the decision-making principles characteristic of arcana imperii, which the constitutionally democratic state is directly confronted with, and then especially the theory and practice of the “hidden agenda” of the US Supreme Court. The so-called shadow docket of this Court has rightly alarmed the democratic public, primarily because of the malignancy of the sediment and wild tissue of Trumpism in the construction of the world’s oldest constitutional democracy. Finally, we try to answer the question of what implications such an “urgent” and “hidden” nature and form of political and legal decision-making have for the principle of separation of powers in a modern constitutional democracy.
Keywords
separation of powers; judicial branch; US Supreme Court; shadow dossier; constitutional malaise
Hrčak ID:
351656
URI
Publication date:
30.9.2026.
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