The Template

Abstract

This chapter analyses the origin and evolution of the Network Community’s transnational Judiciary design Template, which has now become settled public policy in post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe, and beyond. Consisting of the Constitutional Court, the Judicial Council, and the Magistrates’ Training Academy, the Template is rooted in US Judiciary practice insofar as judicialization in the USA inspired contemporary paradigmatic thinking in Europe. The Template has maximally empowered the Judiciaries of CEE with the attributes of supremacy and autonomy, whilst disempowering all other political actors to make public policy in defiance of judicial preferences, even on issues that do not touch the essential judicial values of the guilt or innocence of those subject to State power. The long-term goal is the anti-majoritarian revision of public policy and society. Yet the Template enjoys little popular legitimacy, having been propagated into post-Communist CEE to practically no resistance from people and nations unsure how to govern themselves. Since then, the Network Community has shown zero tolerance of national movements to revisit the Template.