Democracy in peril: a call for <i>amici and amicae curia</i>e and critical lawyering

With the contemporary rise in autocratic populism, critical lawyering plays an essential role in ensuring the independence and institutional integrity of courts as fundamental components of a democratic society. This essay offers a powerful defence of constitutional courts’ interference with majoritarian democratic measures in their efforts to secure the protection of fundamental rights. It argues for friends of the court—amicus curiae—to adopt an attitude of critical pragmatism in their lawyering, not to defend law per se nor to reject the law, but to critically engage it. Finally, a number of critical lawyering activities are offered as examples of how the law, as a form of collective action, can be taken up to effectively address social inequality, safeguard democracy, and protect fundamental rights.