The Position of the Spanish Constitutional Court after Decision 31/2010

Constitutional Court decision 31/2010 illustrates the position of the Constitutional Court with respect to the Constitutional Assembly and the legislature. Its function as the supreme, albeit not the sole, interpreter of the Constitution, brings it closer to the Constitutional Assembly, since it offers an authentic and definitive interpretation of its work, except for changes in the law or a reform of the Constitution. The scope of this task should be nuanced in accordance with the abstract or open nature of the standard to be interpreted. The closing of structural openings should correspond exclusively to the legislative body under the oversight of a Constitutional Court that would specify the abstract framework that the legislature would have to respect. The deference owed democratic legislative bodies is also called into question when the technique of in-conformity interpretation dispenses with the literalness of the law, which is then replaced by the Constitutional Court itself.