Constitutional Justice and Democracy: Countermajoritarian Principle in the Decisions of the Constitutional Court

The counter-majoritarian principle is a fundamental element in the understanding of modern democracies. It has a robust theoretical development and is consolidated in contemporary constitutionalism, indicating that power must be limited and controlled, to prevent the majority from legislating or governing in violation of the rights and freedoms of minorities. To this extent, the figure of the constitutional court, as supreme interpreter of the constitution, plays a crucial role in the protection of the principle in question. Therefore, this article focuses on examining and interpreting the theoretical and practical bases of the counter-majoritarian principle, with a view to the role of the constitutional courts in its implementation, as a manifestation of constitutional justice in democratic contexts. All this framed within legal research, which is developed from an analytical method, which is raised from the documentary review of the relevant doctrine and jurisprudence on the subject, having greater proximity to the Colombian context. This article contributes to the understanding of the principle in question from its theoretical foundation and its interference in the current legal-political situation, through its impact on the judicial dynamics that have been determining the course and evolution of contemporary democracies. It is concluded that the counter-majoritarian principle, despite being usually questioned for its methodological difficulties, due to the indeterminate nature of its social input, plays a crucial role in the understanding of contemporary limits to power.