Irish Supreme Court weighs in on CETA constitutionality

On November 11, 2022, the Irish Supreme Court handed down an important judgment regarding the constitutionality of the investment chapter in the CETA. The court held that currently, the Irish Constitution precludes the Irish Government from ratifying the CETA. In particular, the court held that the CETA’s ISDS provisions would violate Ireland’s judicial and legislative sovereignty and the democratic nature of the state because the CETA permits, among other things, the CETA joint committee to interpret—and therefore amend—the CETA without democratic oversight. While we have seen a similar decisions issued by courts outside Europe (for instance here and here), a judgment coming from an EU member state’s top court is major news and may add some heft to the arguments that ISDS is problematic from the perspective of national constitutionality and democracy.