ТHE ROLE OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL JUDICIARY DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

ČOVIĆ Ana (Institut za uporedno pravo, Beograd), a.covic@iup.rs

Although it is well-known that the rights guaranteed by the Constitution can be limited only when this is allowed by law and to the extent provided by the Constitution, without encroaching on their essence or reducing their achieved level, while the law can prescribe the ways of their realisation when this is expressly provided by the Constitution and necessary due to the nature of the law itself, the previous years of living in a pandemic have raised many questions regarding the respect of these generally accepted provisions of the law. Is there always a balance between the possible restriction of rights and the purpose, i.e., are smaller restrictions resorted to if the purpose can be achieved with them, or does it happen that state authorities abuse the powers entrusted to them by the will of the citizens in situations where we are faced with some challenging circumstances that could not be accurately predicted and regulated during legal regulation in different areas? That is a question asked today, it seems, more often than ever before. In this paper, the author will try to answer the previously asked question after analysing the verdicts that the constitutional courts made in certain countries during the COVID- 19 pandemic as a result of various procedures that were initiated. To what extent do the decisions of these courts differ from state to state? What were their decisionmakers primarily guided by, and was the expected constitutional protection provided or was it absent?

Keywords: COVID-19, constitutional judiciary, human rights, abuse of state power