Una reflexión acerca del tribunal constitucional como defensor de las minorías

Abstract

The constitutional debate about a constitutional court’s role in the political system of a state has prompted diverse points of view on the limits within wh ich such a court must operate. Within those debates, a special dispute has arisen with regard to the court’s protection of social minorities, who have found in the Constitutional Court a propitious forum in which to satisfy some of their claims. In this re spect, this paper tries to offer a description of the most important international debates about a constitutional court’s function, followed by a reflection on the process that has taken place in Colombia after the 1991 Constitution, when the Constitutiona l Court was created, as it pertains to the protection of the rights of social minorities.