Popular Sovereignty and Democracy: A Critique of Ronald Drowkin’s Judicial Review

Abstract

In this article we intend to study Ronald Dworkin's critique of what he calls the Majoritarian Premise, and, more specifically, the control of the constitutionality of legislation by the judges, which he proposes in opposition to that premise. On the basis of the intrinsic relationship that we will argue that exists between popular sovereignty and democracy, we will show how the control of constitutionality implies a certain departure from popular sovereignty, and, thus, a diminution of the democratic character of the system proposed by Dworkin, although we will also expose the ways in which constitutional control could be reconciled with popular sovereignty, demonstrating the aporias of this possibility.