14 December 2025
Is the European Court of Justice a Protector of the Weak?
Is the European Court of Justice biased toward business interests, or does it protect the weak? Drawing on a novel dataset of nearly 7,000 rulings from 1962 to 2016, this blog post revisits a longstanding debate with systematic evidence. Contrary to persistent critiques, this blog post shows that individuals invoking rights win more often than corporate litigants. Through strategies of “leveling” and “spotlighting,” the ECJ not only counters resource asymmetries in litigation but also publicly amplifies pro-individual rights outcomes. Continue reading >>
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17 December 2023
The EU’s Faustian Bargain
Twelve years into the EU’s rule of law crisis, this week has demonstrated that EU leaders are still unwilling to confront their own complicity in Orbán’s rise and to do something about it. Is this sad spectacle a price worth paying in exchange for a symbolic gesture of goodwill to Ukraine? That is the wrong question to ask. The right question to ask is this: if the EU continues to treat the rule of law as a bargaining chip and to make promises it won’t keep, for how much longer will our Union remain a club worth joining? Continue reading >>26 November 2019