Chief justice Kilic: "With the headscarf ruling, the court usurped oarliament's authority"

Two Constitutional Court justices yesterday laid out their dissent to the court's June ruling upholding the headscarf ban at universities. In their dissent, Chief Justice Hasim Kilic and Judge Sacit Adali stressed that under the Constitution, the court can review constitutional amendments only in terms of their form, not their content, adding that the decision had overstepped the court's authority and usurped Parliament's authority. "When the court conducts constitutional review by going beyond constitutional restrictions on its authority, then it is no different from other institutions under its supervision," they wrote. "The interpretation that the amendment (to lift the headscarf ban) violates the Constitution's principle of secularism is a forced one. After this decision, which could set a precedent, Parliament will never even propose or even think of proposing or drafting constitutional amendments, fearing that the court might differ in its interpretation." The dissent also claimed that the decision violated students' right to education on the basis of an illusory threat of Islamic fundamentalism.