The institutional failings of India’s Chief Justice in the age of Modi

Abstract The Chief Justice of India (CJI) wields substantial institutional authority, They determine the composition of judicial benches at the Supreme Court of India, allocate cases to each bench, and play a leading role in appointing new judges to the higher judiciary. These powers are not subject to structural or legal constraints. Rather, it is left to the discretion of individual CJIs to wield these powers at their discretion. As India’s constitutional democracy has come under severe strain under the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the CJI’s broad powers might have been used to constrain democratic decline. However, as we argue in this article, successive CJIs have misused their discretion to accelerate rather than impede Modi’s illiberal agenda. We show how the office of the CJI has substantially contributed to multiple crises within the Supreme Court that have left the institution damaged and vulnerable to capture by the government.