Law enforcement practice as an object of constitutional judicial assessment in the Russian Federation: Background, experience, problems

Turning to law enforcement practice has been and remains an important component of the activities of the Russian Constitutional Court. At the first stage of the history of the Russian judicial constitutional control — during the period of the Constitution (Basic Law) of the Russian Federation — Russia of 1978 and the RSFSR Law of July 12, 1991 No. 1599-I “On the Constitutional Court of the RSFSR” — consideration of cases on checking the constitutionality of law enforcement practice was separate authority of the Constitutional Court. In these conditions, law enforcement practice was the direct object of judicial constitutional review. With the adoption of the Constitution of the Russian Federation of 1993 and the Federal Constitutional Law of July 21, 1994 No. 1-FKZ “On the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation”, the verification of the constitutionality of law enforcement practice was excluded from the competence of the Constitutional Court. At present, the Constitutional Court, while checking the constitutionality of legal acts, actively uses law enforcement practice as one of the means of establishing the meaning of the contested acts. The article shows that the Constitutional Court is constantly faces with the problems of defining the concept of law enforcement practice, which can receive different content in different situations. The question of the criteria under which law enforcement practice should be recognized as established is also unclear. Nevertheless, the importance of law enforcement practice for the activities of the Constitutional Court is generally increasing, which is confirmed, among other things, by the amendments made to the Federal Constitutional Law “On the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation” in 2020. The conclusion is substantiated that the appeal to law enforcement practice contributes to the adoption of more motivated and balanced decisions by the Constitutional Court.