Constitutional Judicial Review and Its Impact on Protecting Rights and Freedoms: A Comparative Study of the Federal Supreme Court of Iraq and the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt

Abstract

principles into enforceable guarantees unless an independent judicial body exists that can compare legislation with the constitution and remove any conflicting text. Both Iraq and Egypt have adopted the centralized model of judicial review, entrusting this function to the Federal Supreme Court in Iraq and exclusively to the Supreme Constitutional Court in Egypt. The two systems nevertheless differ in the routes of access to constitutional adjudication, the conditions for admissibility, the degree of legislative detail governing the temporal and criminal effects of unconstitutionality rulings, and the mechanisms for removing obstacles to their enforcement. This research examines the constitutional and legal basis of each court, the scope of its jurisdiction, the channels through which constitutional cases reach it, and the binding force and effects of its rulings. It then presents illustrative judicial applications reflecting the role of constitutional judiciary in protecting rights and freedoms in both systems, before concluding with a comparative study and a critical evaluation of the effectiveness of protection under each system, accompanied by practical proposals for developing the procedural and legislative framework governing constitutional judiciary in Iraq and Egypt. The added scientific value of this research lies in the fact that it does not merely describe the constitutional and legal organization of constitutional courts in Iraq and Egypt separately, but rather combines the institutional, procedural, and judicial application dimensions within a single comparative analytical framework. It concludes with a critical evaluation of the effectiveness of each system, accompanied by the researcher's perspective and practical proposals for developing the legislative framework for addressing the effects of unconstitutionality rulings and the mechanisms for monitoring their implementation, thus going beyond the bounds of a purely descriptive presentation.

To clarify the research topic of constitutional judicial review and its impact on protecting rights and freedoms in Iraq and Egypt, we will divide it into two sections, each containing two subsections, as follows:

Section One: The Constitutional and Legal Organization of Constitutional Courts in Iraq and Egypt

Subsection One: The Nature of Judicial Review of Constitutional Courts and the Federal Supreme Court in Iraq

Subsection Two: The Supreme Constitutional Court in Egypt

Section Two: The Role of Constitutional Courts in Protecting Rights and Freedoms: Ap plications, Comparison, and Evaluation

Subsection One: Judicial Applications in Protecting Rights and Freedoms in Iraq and Egypt

Subsection Two: Comparison Between the Two Systems and Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Protection