Judicial public relations: Determinants of press release publication by constitutional courts
| Published date | 01 November 2020 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0263395719885753 |
| Date | 01 November 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0263395719885753
Politics
2020, Vol. 40(4) 477 –493
© The Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/0263395719885753
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Judicial public relations:
Determinants of press
release publication by
constitutional courts
Philipp Meyer
Leibniz University Hannover, Germany
Abstract
It remains unclear what institutional characteristics determine the publication of press releases
by constitutional courts. Research has revealed that courts use press releases to disseminate
information; however, little is known about when exactly courts choose to publish a press release
on a ruling. By focusing on institutional elements, this study argues that press releases form a
part of judicial public relations and are used to enhance openness and transparency surrounding
specific court rulings. This argument is tested empirically via a novel dataset on the activities of the
German Federal Constitutional Court. Based on 1131 senate rulings decided between 1996 and
2018, this study demonstrates that proceeding types and changes to the status quo are the main
characteristics that determine the publication of court press releases, whereas intra-judicial and
internal conflicts are revealed to be less influential.
Keywords
constitutional courts, judicial politics, political communication, political public relations, press
releases
Received: 6th February 2019; Revised version received: 1st October 2019; Accepted: 4th October 2019
Introduction
Judiciaries around the world have recognized the need to communicate their decisions to
the public more effectively in order to foster institutional reputation and legitimacy
(Garoupa and Ginsburg, 2015). To achieve these goals, courts can disclose and dissemi-
nate authoritative information via press releases (Peleg and Bogoch, 2014; Staton, 2010).
Table 1 illustrates the fact that press releases by high courts are a common phenomenon
across Europe. Supreme and constitutional courts in the Americas also pursue an active
press release publication strategy (Staton, 2010). However, research has revealed that
press releases vary in both quantity and quality. For example, while the US Supreme
Court only announces forthcoming rulings (Hitt et al., 2019) and the Australian High
Corresponding author:
Philipp Meyer, Department of Political Science, Leibniz University Hannover, Raum 024, Schneiderberg 50,
30167 Hannover, Germany.
Email: p.meyer@ipw.uni-hannover.de
885753POL0010.1177/0263395719885753PoliticsMeyer
research-article2019
Article
478 Politics 40(4)
Table 1. Types of press releases by constitutional courts in Europe.
Country Constitutional court Ruling-related
press releases
Ruling
announcements
Oral hearing
announcements
Miscellaneous (e.g. resignation/
nomination of judges,
visitations, conferences)
Austria Verfassungsgerichtshof Yes No No Yes
Belgium Cour constitutionnelle No Yes No Yes
Bulgaria Konstitutsionen Sud Yes Yes No No
Czech Republic Ŭstavní soud Yes No No Yes
Estonia Riigikohus Yes No No Yes
France Conseil constitutionnel Yes Yes No Yes
Germany Bundesverfassungsgericht Yes Yes Yes Yes
Italy Corte costituzionale Yes Yes No Yes
Latvia Satversmes tiesa Yes No No Yes
Lithuania Konstitucinis Teismas Yes Yes No No
Portugal Tribunal Constitucional No No No Yes
Poland Trybunal Konstytucyjny Yes No No Yes
Romania Curtea ConstituionalăYes No No No
Slovakia Ústavný súd No Yes No Yes
Slovenia Ustavno sodiščeYes No No Yes
Spain Tribunal Constitucional Yes No No No
Information extracted from the courts websites (last access of all websites: 20 March 2019).
Case selection based on Hönnige (2007).
The Court in Estonia is a supreme court with a constitutional review chamber.
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