Suggestion to empower the Supreme Court to constitutional review in Thailand

Abstract

The establishment of the Constitutional Court as an organization for reviewing constitutionality in Thailand began in 1997 and is still ongoing. However, the current role of the Constitutional Court has been heavily criticized as a result of rulings of political intervention and anti-democracy due to impartiality, and issuing a judgment that establishes itself above all other constitutional organizations, violating the separation of powers principle. Furthermore, many cases contradict the intent of the Constitution and its provisions. Therefore, the objective of this article is to propose a new approach to establishing court bodies to review the constitutionality of the law through documentary-based research. This study suggested guidelines for “a semi-centralized system” that would establish divisions in the Supreme Court of Justice and the Supreme Administrative Court to review the law’s constitutionality. There is also another form that is still a centralized system of constitutional review. Another centralized system of constitutional review would create a division in the Supreme Court of Justice, reducing some roles and responsibilities and increasing mechanisms for selecting judges who are more closely linked to the people and have more democratic accountability.