Problems of Legislative Regulation of the Power of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation

Abstract

The article reveals the approach to legislative consolidation of the power of the Constitutional Court adopted in Art. 3 of the Federal Constitutional Law of July 21, 1994 No. 1-FKZ “On the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation”. Based on the results of a study of the relationship between the name, structure and content of this article, it was concluded that its name and content are not fully consistent with each other. In addition, taking into account the development trends in the practice of the Constitutional Court, a number of problematic elements of its competence that require in-depth study have been identified. These include, in particular, the concept of a normative legal act as an object of judicial constitutional control; types of laws to be reviewed; powers in the sphere of implementation of specific constitutional regulatory control. It is particularly difficult to determine the limits of constitutional-judicial justiciability, which is normatively expressed in the principle that allows the Constitutional Court to resolve only the issues of law. Finally, the issue of the subject of legal regulation of the Rules of the Constitutional Court has not received a consistent legislative solution. It is noted that the development of the powers of the Constitutional Court is significantly influenced by the practice of constitutional justice. On the one hand, certain defects in the normative regulation of the powers of the Constitutional Court can be quite successfully overcome by it by interpreting the Constitution and the Federal Constitutional Law “On the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation”. On the other hand, the application of these powers reveals such directions for their further development that can be fully disclosed and implemented only through legislative or even constitutional changes. Thus, the power of the Constitutional Court -- despite the fact that it has been functioning for three decades – remains a dynamically developing legal structure.