Where Judicial Politics Are Legislative Politics: The French Constitutional Council

Judges on France's ordinary and administrative courts make law and policy by interpreting and applying statutes, but the Constitutional Council is overtly involved in policy‐making. The Council serves as a type of ‘third’ chamber of the French parliament, where it may annul unconstitutional legislation, ‘constitu‐tionalise’ various legal principles, and sometimes even prescribe the precise terms of legislation. This ‘court‐like’ body, thus, plays a significant and growing role in French policy‐making.