Zorkin, Valery Dmitrievich

Born in the family of a soldier. Later, his family moved to Moscow .

Education and teaching

He graduated from the Law Faculty of Moscow State University in 1964 . After graduating from graduate school, he was a senior lecturer in the law faculty of Moscow State University. In 1967, he defended a dissertation at Moscow State University for the degree of candidate of legal sciences on the topic “ B. N. Chicherin 's Views on the State and the Law,” after which he continued teaching work at Moscow State University as an assistant professor until 1979.

From 1977 to 1979 he worked at the Institute of State and Law of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR , in 1978 he defended his doctoral dissertation "The Positivist Theory of Law in Russia (Historical and Critical Research)." The work was devoted to criticism of the positivist theory of law, which lay at the basis of the practice of the former USSR prosecutor (1935-1939) Andrei Vyshinsky and his followers.

From 1979 to 1986 - professor at the Department of Constitutional Law and Theory of State and Law of the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR . Since 1986 - professor at the Higher Correspondence School of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR.

Political Activities

In 1970 he joined the Communist Party (remained a party member until its ban on November 6, 1991).

In March 1990, he ran for the people's deputies of the RSFSR in the Kalinin district of Moscow, took third place after the "democrat" Mikhail Bocharov and the commander of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, General Yuri Shatalin.

In the early 1990s, an expert of the Constitutional Commission of the RSFSR , participated in the preparation of the draft Constitution of Russia .

On October 29, 1991 at the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR, on the proposal of the deputy group “Communists for Democracy,” he was elected a member of the Constitutional Court of Russia , and at the first meeting by secret ballot he became its chairman.

Activities in the Constitutional Court

The first decision of the Constitutional Court was the unconstitutional decree of President Yeltsin on the unification of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Security Agencies (AFS of the RSFSR) in January 1992 ^[1] .

On March 13, 1992, the Constitutional Court of the RSFSR, headed by Valery Zorkin, declared unconstitutional the referendum planned in Tatarstan on the sovereignty of the republic , as well as some parts of the Declaration on State Sovereignty of the Republic of Tatarstan of August 30, 1990 ^[2] . Despite this, a referendum in Tatarstan was held on March 21, 1992.

Another high-profile case was the “ CPSU affair ”. On May 26, 1992, Communist deputies of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation submitted to the court the question of the legality of Yeltsin's Decrees to ban the CPSU and the Communist Party of the RSFSR of August 23 and November 6, 1991. In response to this, the “democrats” deputies, headed by Oleg Rumyantsev, brought up the question of the constitutionality of the CPSU. On November 30, 1992, the case was completed and certain provisions of the decrees were declared unconstitutional ^[3] . This decision allowed the lower structures of the Communist Party of the RSFSR to recreate the central leadership of the party.

In the early 1990s, the Constitutional Court, led by Zorkin, declared many decisions of Boris Yeltsin contrary to the Constitution. On March 20, 1993, he spoke on television condemning the presidential decree "On a special regime of governance until the crisis of power is overcome" even before the publication of the document. In the summer of the same year, several judges of the Constitutional Court adopted a statement stating that the chairman, in their opinion, crossed the line separating judicial activity from political activity.

During the constitutional crisis of 1992-1993, he actively participated in the negotiations of representatives of the branches of power with an attempt to overcome the confrontation that arose between the President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin and the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation. After the October 1993 events, on October 6, under pressure, resigned as chairman ^[4] , while retaining the powers of a judge ^[5] . And about. The chairman of the COP was his deputy Nikolai Vitruk. On December 1, 1993, his powers as judges of the Constitutional Court “for political activity” were suspended, they were restored only at a meeting of the Constitutional Court on January 25, 1994 .

March 21, 2003 for the second time elected chairman of the Constitutional Court. In 2004, he supported the decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the abolition of direct elections of heads of constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

In 2005-2012, he was a member of the Council of Europe Commission for Democracy through Law ( Venice Commission ).

Member of the Presidium of the Russian Bar Association.

February 21, 2006, and then February 20, 2009, re-elected President of the COP. February 22, 2012 Valery Zorkin became Chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation for the fifth time.

He is a member of the Presidential Council on Combating Corruption (approved by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of May 19, 2008).

On January 31, 2018, he was re-elected President of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation for a 6-year term ^[6] .

Valery Zorkin took part in the development of a number of constitutional legal doctrines, which form the basis of the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. In particular, the doctrine of the protection of human rights formulates the principles of maintaining citizens' trust in the law and actions of the state, the principle of legal certainty and reasonable stability of legal regulation, the principle of predictability of legislative policy. In the modern Russian doctrine of sources of law, the precedent value of decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and the European Court of Human Rights is substantiated.

Scientific activity

At an early stage - a study of the work of representatives of the liberal political and legal thought of Tsarist Russia and the conservative political thought of England in the 17th-18th centuries.

In the future - the study of the philosophical and theoretical foundations of the international rule of law and Russian constitutionalism. The author develops the legal concept of national sovereignty in the context of globalization. He substantiates the need to preserve the Westphalian accords , based on the principle of formal equality of states. Recognizing the processes of political and economic globalization, he warns against their interpretation as the withering away of the state, the movement towards the formation of the so-called " world government ", etc.

In recent years, the author analyzes the sources of the systemic global economic and political crisis. He sees the reasons for this crisis as a deviation from the principle of the rule of law in the economy, which was the result of an imbalance in the rights and obligations of states, international financial institutions and transnational corporations. He points to resolving the contradictions between the constitutional obligation of the state to guarantee the rights and freedoms of man and citizen and the need to ensure national security. Valery Zorkin substantiates the need for the practical implementation of the rule of law (which is interpreted by him as the legal quintessence of modern democracy) as the basis of the emerging new world order. The main imperative of modern civilization, he emphasizes, is "democracy through law."

The main direction of scientific activity of Valery Zorkin is associated with the formation and development of the philosophical and legal and theoretical and legal foundations of Russian constitutionalism. His research interests include such issues as the historical conditionality of the constitutional and legal development of Russia, the foundations of the rule of law, aspects of social justice and the legal nature of the social state, the reform of the Russian judicial system, the main directions of legal modernization of Russia, etc.

Analyzing the modern meaning of the human right to dignity, Valery Zorkin draws special attention to those aspects of this phenomenon that are interfaced with the concept of “decent life”. He argues with those who deny the legal nature of social human rights and question the possibility of judicial protection. The author interprets the social policy of the state as a system of compensatory measures of a legal nature, aimed at equalizing the starting opportunities of individuals. Thus, he introduces the issue of social rights into the scope of the legal principle of formal equality. On this theoretical basis, the author develops the doctrine of a legal social state, which is important not only to protect the violated rights of specific citizens, but also to improve the quality of social legislation and improve the social policy of the state as a whole.

In his speeches and lectures, Valery Zorkin has repeatedly spoken out about the priority of Russian law over international. In particular, he pointed out that the provision of the Russian Constitution on the priority of international treaties over Russian laws does not mean delegation of sovereignty, and that this priority cannot be extended to the Constitution of the Russian Federation ^[7] .

In connection with the mass appeals of Russian citizens to the European Court of Human Rights, Zorkin stated that

... our internal judicial system is imperfect, including steps related to supervision, appeals, cassation instances. They must be brought into compliance with standards. ^[eight]

After mass demonstrations against fraud in the 2011 parliamentary elections , he made a statement according to which the rallying passions “were actively fueled from abroad” and that people who would “better not scour vices but work patiently” are better suited ^[9] .

He sharply criticized perestroika , regarded it as “confusion” and “chaos,” devoid of a moral foundation, which provoked a polemical response by Mikhail Gorbachev ^[10] .

In his article, published on September 26, 2014 in the Rossiyskaya Gazeta , he assessed serfdom, which was abolished in 1861 . He believes that the abolition of serfdom destroyed the already already weakened by that time connection between the two main social classes of the nation - the nobility and peasants : “With all the costs of serfdom , it was this that was the main bond holding the nation’s internal unity” ^[11] .

In a number of texts he makes a distinction between legal and spiritual bonds: “For centuries and even millennia, Russia has been fastened by higher spiritual bonds, called differently at different times. Being bonded with these braces, it could relate to legal braces with more or less neglect ” ^[12] .

He believes that the February Revolution occurred due to the loss of established canonical orders (bonds): “After all, we all know how all that began that led to the February 1917 tragedy began. It all started with little things. The soldiers, entering the church, ceased to be baptized, did not extinguish cigars, and so on. The authority of the officers was falling, the very negativity was accumulating, which at first was fraught only with internal rejection. And then this internal rejection turned into the collapse of all institutions, all systems of social life ” ^[13] .

He criticizes the protection of “all kinds of minorities” to the detriment of the interests of other sections of society. In a report at an international conference in Serbia, he noted: “The old democracies, inspired by the ideas of liberalism , are very actively moving towards the protection of various kinds of minorities and often very resolutely ignore the objections of their citizens concerned about the consequences of such decisions” ^[14] . Similar theses were expressed by him at a public report in Seoul in 2014 ^[15] .

On November 1, 2016, the Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Russia Valery Zorkin declared that the world legal system was collapsing, which was already predicted by the apostle Paul. ^[sixteen]

On May 18, 2017, Valery Zorkin said that the protection of human rights should not undermine the moral principles of society and destroy its religious identity. ^[17]

At the IV BRICS Legal Forum in Moscow, Valery Zorkin called for the introduction of unconditional basic income in Russia following the example of Finland. According to Zorkin, the world is on the verge of moral degradation, and it is necessary to create barriers against market egoism and growing poverty. He also noted the global automation of production, which could lead to total unemployment and even greater poverty ^[18] .

• The Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree ( October 19, 2011 ) - for his great contribution to strengthening the constitutional foundations of Russian statehood and the development of constitutional justice ^[19] .
• Order “For Merit to the Fatherland”, III degree ( February 18, 2008 ) - for his great contribution to the development of constitutional justice in the Russian Federation and many years of fruitful activity ^[20] .
• Order “For Merit to the Fatherland”, IV degree ( July 4, 2016 ) - for his great contribution to the development of constitutional justice in the Russian Federation and many years of fruitful activity ^[21] .
• Order of Alexander Nevsky (February 12, 2018) - for great services to the development of constitutional justice in the Russian Federation and many years of conscientious work .
• Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation ( March 23, 2000 ) - for his merits in strengthening the rule of law and many years of conscientious work ^[22] .
• The certificate of honor of the President of the Russian Federation ( December 12, 2008 ) - for active participation in the preparation of the draft Constitution of the Russian Federation and a great contribution to the development of the democratic foundations of the Russian Federation ^[23] .
• Gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation ( February 2, 2013 ) - for his merits in strengthening the constitutional foundations of Russian statehood and many years of fruitful work ^[24] .
• P. A. Stolypin Medal of the I degree ( January 28, 2013 ) - for his merits in the establishment and development of constitutional justice and many years of fruitful state activity ^[25] .
• The Order of the Polar Star (September 18, 2014) - for his contribution to the development of bilateral relations between Russia and Mongolia . ^[26]
• Order of Friendship ( Armenia , 2016)
• The Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh, II degree ( February 21, 2008 ) - for works for the good of the Fatherland ^[27] .

The highest qualification class. ^[28]

• From the history of bourgeois-liberal political thought of Russia in the second half of the XIX - early XX centuries: B. N. Chicherin. - M .: Publishing House of Moscow State University, 1975 .-- 173 p.
• Positivist theory of law in Russia. - M .: Publishing house of Moscow University, 1978 - 270 p.
• Muromtsev / Resp. ed. V.S. Nersesyants. - M.: Legal literature, 1979. - 128 p.
• Chicherin / Resp. ed. P.S. Graziansky. - M .: Legal literature, 1984. - 112 p. - (From the history of political and legal thought).
• The Costitutional Court of Russia in the European Law Landscape = Constitutional Court of Russia in the European legal field / Hrsg. R. Waldburger, CM Baer, ​​U. Nobel, B. Bernet. -Bern: Stämpfli Verlag AG, 2005. -S. 1095 - 1115.
• Russia and the Constitution in the 21st Century: A View from Ilyinka / -M. : Norma, 2007. -400 s.
• Russia and the Constitution in the XXI century / -2nd ed. -M .: Norma, 2008. -592 s.
• The Constitution and Human Rights in the XXI Century: On the 15th anniversary of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights / -M .: Norma, 2008. -224 s.
• Axiological Aspects of the Russian Constitution / -Den Haag: Eleven International Publishing, 2010. -P. 169 - 185.
• The modern world, law and the Constitution / -M.: Norm, 2010. -544 s.
• Конституционно-правовое развитие России / -М.: Норма ;Инфра-М,2011. -720 с.
• Право в условиях глобальных перемен / -М.: Норма,2013. -496 с.
• Правовой путь России / -М.,2014. -158 с.
• Цивилизация права и развитие России / -2-е изд., испр. и доп. -М.: Норма ;Инфра-М.,2016. -416 с.
• Civilization of law and development of Russia / -2nd edition. -М.: Норма,2016. -450 p.
• Конституционный Суд России: Доктрина и практика / -М.: Норма,2017. -592 с.
• Право против хаоса: Монография / -2-е изд., испр. и доп. -М.: Норма,Инфра-м,2018. -368 с.

• Валерий Зорькин. Материалы автора (неопр.) . Российская газета . — Статьи В.Д.Зорькина в РГ. Дата обращения 23 февраля 2012.
• Валерий Зорькин: «У закона нет выходных» — интервью «Российской газете»
• Валерий Зорькин на lobbying.ru
• Валерий Зорькин. Кризис доверия и государство// Конституционные нормы и законы не должны вступать в жесткое противоречие с реальностью
• Конституция против криминала. Председатель Конституционного суда Валерий Зорькин о борьбе с организованной преступностью
• Современное государство в эпоху этносоциального многообразия. Выступление на Международном политическом форуме в Ярославле 7 сентября 2011 года.
• Два суда одного человека Таисия Бекбулатова — о том, как председатель Конституционного суда Валерий Зорькин поменял историю России. И поменялся сам , «Медуза», 26.12.2018.