Foreign Affairs in Court: Lessons from CJEU Targeted Sanctions Jurisprudence

There are many myths about the role of courts in foreign affairs and national security in Western democracies. Traditionally, courts and scholars in different jurisdictions have taken the view that executive action related to foreign affairs has unique attributes, making it ill-suited for review by unelected judges with limited institutional competence.1 This approach has relied on a combination of functional considerations and concerns about the democratic legitimacy of judicial interference with inherently political foreign and security policies.