Structuring balancing within rational standards? The data screening case

Paula Gorzoni

doi:10.18256/2238-0604.2018.v4i2.2419

Structuring balancing within rational standards? The data screening case

Paula Gorzoni

Abstract

The practice of balancing as a method of reasoning and decision making in cases of collision between constitutional rights has been frequently debated in legal literature worldwide as well as adopted by many national and international courts. The expansion of the method raises many objections and questions about its structure and rationality. In this paper the method will be analyzed by means of (1) its definition, (2) the main objections to its practice, (3) its structuring by means of the weight formula, and (4) a case study, in order to analyze the possibility of structuring the method within rational standards in a concrete case. The chosen case is a decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court regarding the permission from local courts to perform a data screening in order to look for potential terrorists that could have been planning attacks in Germany after the 11^th September 2001 events in the USA.

Keywords

Balancing; rational standards; weight formula; data screening; data protection; counterterrorism

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References

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.18256/2238-0604.2018.v4i2.2419

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