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Beyond Formal Conceptions of Judicial Leadership: Women on the Bench, Judicial Influence, and Judge Rapporteurs on the Romanian Constitutional Court

Suteu, Silvia; (2024) Beyond Formal Conceptions of Judicial Leadership: Women on the Bench, Judicial Influence, and Judge Rapporteurs on the Romanian Constitutional Court. In: Delaney, Erin and Dixon, Rosalind, (eds.) Constitutional Heroines and Feminist Judicial Leadership. Edward Elgar (In press).

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Abstract

This chapter looks at the informal feminist influence of judge rapporteurs, with the Romanian Constitutional Court as its case study. The Romanian context is a rather paradoxical one given that women represent a majority in the judiciary, including in positions of leadership atop courts up to the supreme court. However, the Romanian Constitutional Court, an institution modelled on its Kelsenian continental European counterparts, sits outside this court structure and also contradicts this pattern. It has so far never been led by a woman, and its record on female justices on the bench is abysmal. This is what sparked my interest in analysing the question of judicial leadership in a broader sense, as judicial influence even (or especially) where it may be more amorphous, less visible, and thus more difficult to quantify. My contribution may at first glance appear not to fit the general focus of this volume, centred as it is on formal ideas of judicial leadership in apex courts. However, the editors’ careful distinguishing of different types of leadership—such as between the task leadership performed by intellectual heavyweights on the bench and the social leadership of those capable of managing the emotional and collegial needs of their peers—leaves room for an intervention such as mine.1 Moreover, it is no coincidence that Mathilde Cohen’s chapter on the French Conseil Constitutionnel is similarly constrained, given the dearth of women represented among its members and the lack of a female president of the institution thus far. 2 Cohen questions the very ideas of judicial and constitutional heroism and leadership as gendered and male-coded, and we would do well to keep this as a constant reminder when evaluating our heroines’ contributions. Nevertheless and in line with feminist understandings of power and influence, I will proceed on the assumption that there is more to a judicial leader than their formal position. Instead, I will focus on the less visible but hugely influential role played by the judge rapporteur on the Romanian Constitutional Court.

Type: Book chapter
Title: Beyond Formal Conceptions of Judicial Leadership: Women on the Bench, Judicial Influence, and Judge Rapporteurs on the Romanian Constitutional Court
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Laws
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10193347
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