The Constitutional Court

Indonesia’s Constitutional Court, established in 2003, is often called a model of judicial reform for other courts in Indonesia and throughout parts of Asia. It reviews statutes against the Constitution, hears disputes about elections and between state organs, and decides presidential impeachment motions brought by the national legislature. This chapter shows that this court started strongly, performing its functions professionally and commanding respect from the government and citizens, despite having no enforcement powers. It even managed to push the formal boundaries of its jurisdiction and, in our view, began to ‘make law’, thereby usurping a legislative function. However, recent corruption scandals and poorly reasoned decisions have undermined its credibility and threaten its future viability.

Constitution · Constitutional court · Credibility · Enforcement · Government (linguistics) · Impeachment · Jurisdiction · Legislature · Political science · Politics · Presidential system · State (computer science) · Statute · Asian Studies and History · Indonesian Legal and Regulatory Studies · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Indonesia · LAW