The deliberative right to constitutional silence
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13008995 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Donald Bello Hutt (0000-0003-2979-6631, Universidad de Valladolid, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Pages | 1-25 |
| Publication date | 2025-08-05 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Global Constitutionalism (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2045-3817 • E-ISSN: 2045-3825 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s2045381725100099 |
| OpenAlex | W4412955328 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 24 |
I champion a deliberative right to constitutional silence. It entitles individuals to reflect upon the arguments and reasons in favour or against changing or re-interpreting constitutional content under proper conditions. After reflecting on the place of silence in intellectual history and its features and virtues, I define the right to constitutional silence. It has four components: salience, time, reflection and publicness. Next, I discuss its grounds. I argue that it is an institutional legal right that citizens have in a deliberative constitutional democracy. This entails that, while there is a moral case for the right to silence, I here circumscribe my argument to the province of legality and constitutionalism. I finish discussing matters of institutionalisation. I offer three suggestions: two proposals about content and one about procedure. First, the right to silence applies primarily to deliberations about ‘thin’ constitutional matters found in preambles and introductory sections of constitutions. Second, it warrants public intervention in matters of public discourse of constitutional import, to avoid private power from interfering with the people’s sphere of constitutional reflection. Third, I adapt a proposal made elsewhere and suggest that a non-decisional interpretive mini-public could be a place to implement the right to silence
Aesthetics · Constitution · Constitutional right · Political science · Silence · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Ombudsman and Human Rights · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics
The authority of lawEssays on law and morality
The Charter Dialogue between Courts and Legislatures (Or Perhaps the Charter of Rights Isn't Such a Bad Thing after All)
Everyday Talk in the Deliberative System
Deliberation and Democratic Legitimacy
The Oxford Handbook of Deliberative Democracy
Democratic Deliberation Within
The deliberative constitutionalism debate and a republican way forward
The Market and the Forum
Contemporary Debates in Political Philosophy
Political Freedom in a Deliberative System
Rule of Law and Political Representation
Measuring Deliberation’s Content
Republicanism, Deliberative Democracy, and Equality of Access and Deliberation
Public Deliberation, Discursive Participation, and Citizen Engagement
The Law of Group Polarization
The Forum, the System, and the Polity
Representation as Advocacy
When Deliberation Produces Extremism
| Highly cited | No |
|---|