The constitutional legitimacy of the legal framework responding to covid- 19 into question

An annotated chronology in the light of constitutional case law

Authors

  • Germán M. Teruel Lozano Universidad de Murcia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18042/cepc/aijc.26.17

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to study the legal framework designed to respond to covid-19 in Spain, assessing its constitutional adequacy according to the Constitutional Court case law. In particular, the paper will consider Judgements of the Spanish Constitutional Court 148/2021 of 14 July, 183/2021 of 27 October and 70/2022 of 2 June, which have questioned some of the key decisions regarding the legal design of the response to the pandemic: the lockdown of the population in the first state of alarm; the enabling nature and excessive extension of the third state of alarm; and the judicial authorisation of health measures adopted in accordance with public health legislation. In conclusion, learning from the experience of the pandemic and the doctrine established by the Constitutional Court, some concrete proposals will be put forward for the revision of current legislation, especially the Organic Law on exceptional states.

Published

2022-12-29