Judicialization of Politics and Legal Culture: The Passage of the Philippine Parity Amendment of 1946

Abstract

This article examines the Philippine legal culture by highlighting the politics of the Philippine constitutional amendment in 1946-47 and the centrality of the role of judicial review in this process. As this paper shows, the role of the judiciary as ‘the final arbiter of law’ is hinged on this institution’s independence; however, judicial independence was problematic at this juncture in Philippine history. The Philippine Supreme Court, through its power of judicial review, failed to stand for constitutionalism and demonstrated a lack of judicial independence. Employing textual and historical analyses, this paper analyzes the Philippine Supreme Court’s decisions on cases relevant to the constitutional amendment, their precedents, and the history and politics of the amendment. It argues that the decisions on the constitutional amendment cases demonstrate a legal culture of judges and politicians that developed under colonial conditions where norms of legality highlight judicialization of politics and politicization of the judiciary.