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Event

Judges Too Wise for Their Own Good: Is Anyone Still Protecting Civil Liberties in France?

Thursday, October 30, 2025 13:00to14:30
Chancellor Day Hall Stephen Allan Scott Seminar Room 16, 3644 rue Peel, Montreal, QC, H3A 1W9, CA

At a moment of democratic crisis in Europe, when far-right parties are gaining power, courts are expected to act as key defenders of rights and freedoms. In La démocratie en état d'urgence, Stéphanie Hennette Vauchez and Antoine Vauchez examine how France's highest courts—the Council of State and the Constitutional Council—have often reinforced executive power rather than limiting it, revealing how judicial practices may be contributing to the erosion of democratic trust and legitimacy. Open to the public. No registration necessary. A light lunch will be served.

Stéphanie Hennette Vauchez is a Professor of Public Law at Paris Nanterre University and a senior member of the Institut universitaire de France. Her research explores gender, bioethics, secularism, and restrictions on freedoms, with recent works including La démocratie en état d'urgence (2022) and De Haute Lutte. La révolution de l'avortement (2025).

Antoine Vauchez is a Research Director at CNRS and Director of the European Centre for Sociology and Political Science (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne/EHESS). His work examines the rise of European and neoliberal forms of governance, and he is the author of The Neoliberal Republic (2023) and Brokering Europe (2015).Ìý

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