Federalism and regionalism in constitutional adjudication

This chapter looks at the role of constitutional adjudication in the evolution of the Italian regional state. The first research question is on whether and how the Constitutional Court has contributed to the actual working of the system. The case law of the Court has contributed to making the system more functional. This was the case both before and after the constitutional reform of 2001. Second, the chapter considers the contribution of the case law of the Constitutional Court to the theoretical understanding of regionalism. This strand of judgments mostly dates back to the first decade of this century, when ordinary regions adopted new statuti in the wake of constitutional reform. When reviewing the statuti, or regional laws, concerning the institutional system, the Court highlighted the differences between federalism and regionalism and their consequences: the distinctions between sovereignty and regional autonomy, between the statuti and regional constitutions, between the regional legislatures and fully-fledged parliaments, and so on. In these judgments, the Court has generally relied on the achievements of constitutional scholarship, contributing to enhancing their visibility, both in the political debates and in the international debate.