More than one hundred years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court started to refer to social science evidence in its judgments. However, this has not resonated with many constitutional courts outside the United States, in particular in continental Europe. This contribution has a twofold aim. First, it...

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, la Corte had to build its authority on a particularly weak legal basis. However, it succeeded in developing...