Replication Data for: The Bulgarian Constitutional Court as an Additional Legislative Chamber

Although not the most prolific of courts, the Bulgarian Constitutional Court (BCC) has now made enough decisions for us to begin characterising its decision making. Generally, decision making on the BCC is characterised by a low caseload dominated by referrals from parliament, by a high level of dissent, and by dissent that in turn is characterised by a disagreement between left- and right-wing judges. I make these claims on the basis of an analysis of BCC decisions over the period 1991 to 2010, and in particular on the basis of an analysis of judges’ dissenting votes as the expression of an underlying latent trait. I argue that this latent trait should be interpreted as a left–right dimension, both because the positions on this latent dimension match descriptions of judges’ politics and the politics of those who appointed, and because court majorities from the right end of the recovered dimension are often found when ruling in favour of right-wing opposition groups. On the basis of these findings, I argue for an interpretation of the BCC as an additional legislative chamber, comparable in this respect to the French Conseil Constitutionnel.

尽管保加利亚宪法法院（Bulgarian Constitutional Court, BCC）并非裁判数量最多的法院，但迄今已作出足够多的裁判，足以让我们着手刻画其决策特征。总体而言，BCC的决策模式呈现出三大典型特征：一是案件量偏低，且主要由议会提请的案件构成；二是异议率较高；三是此类异议往往以左翼与右翼法官间的立场分歧为核心特征。本文基于对1991年至2010年间BCC裁判的分析，尤其聚焦于将法官的异议投票作为一种潜在特质（latent trait）的表达形式所展开的分析，提出了上述论断。本研究认为，该潜在特质可被解读为左右翼政治维度，原因有二：其一，该维度上的法官立场与法官自身的政治倾向及其任命者的政治立场相契合；其二，基于该维度测算得到的右翼阵营多数意见，往往在支持右翼反对团体的裁判中占据主导。基于上述研究发现，本研究主张将BCC视为一个额外的立法议院，这一点与法国宪法委员会（Conseil Constitutionnel）具有可比性。