The Constitutional Court of Ecuador (CCE): Limit of State Branches and Some of its Criticisms

Abstract

The supremacy of the Constitution, alongside other factors that belong to the constitutional transformation of the legal systems, serve as the fundament and the reason of existence of constitutional justice. Strictly speaking, constitutional justice is not but the guarantee of the
supreme position of the constitutional text and, at the same time, of the rights enshrined in it, within the standpoint of a new constitutional paradigm, as the “new constitutionalism” is. From these considerations arise certain problematics that have legitimate reasons of being,
and which state that the attributions conferred to the constitutional tribunals or courts to serve as the guarantee of the constitutions, can inflict damage to the exercise of functions of the state branches, undermining principles as the separation of powers, as well as the democratic
legitimacy of the most important branches of the state. The foregoing calls for considering a new perspective of civil participation in constitutional decision-making.