Building judicial authority: a comparison between the Italian Constitutional Court and the German Federal Constitutional Court

RESUMEN Este artículo examina los fundamentos de la autoridad de la Corte Constitucional italiana comparándola con la del Tribunal Constitucional Federal alemán. En comparación con el Tribunal alemán, la Corte italiana ha construido su autoridad sobre una base particularmente débil. Sin embargo, ha tenido éxito en desarrollar una dinámica de "poder en la debilidad", que explica importantes características de la Corte Constitucional italiana: su relación excepcionalmente cooperativa con los tribunales ordinarios, su estilo conciso de razonamiento, su deliberado bajo perfil frente a la opinión pública, su interacción activista con el legislador y su diálogo táctico con el Tribunal de Justicia de la Unión Europea. ABSTRACT This paper examines the foundations of the Italian Constitutional Court's authority by comparing it with that of the German Federal Constitutional Court. In comparison to the German Court, the Italian Court had to build its authority on a particularly weak legal basis. However, it succeeded in developing a dynamic of "power in weakness" which explains important features of the Italian Court: its exceptionally cooperative relationship with the ordinary courts, its terse style of reasoning, its deliberate low profile in public opinion, its activist interaction with the legislature, and its tactical dialogue with the Court of Justice of the European Union.