THE ROLE OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT IN LAW ENFORCEMENT IN INDONESIA

Abstract

The Constitutional Court (MK) exists from the third amendment to the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia as a judicial institution that has the authority to maintain the supremacy of the constitution while carrying out the function of checks and balances among the branches of state power. This article aims to find out the role of the Constitutional Court in law enforcement in Indonesia carried out through four constitutional authorities and one obligation attached to it, as well as how its role is in the unification of the state of law and democracy. This discussion shows that during the period 2003–2024 the Constitutional Court handled 4,128 cases and decided 4,046 of them, with the testing of the law (PUU) as the authority most often used by the public. The role of the Constitutional Court is evident in three main things, namely as a guardian of the constitutionality of legislation products, mediating disputes between state institutions, and safeguarding the integrity of the electoral process. Even so, there are still several challenges to the independence of judges, the level of compliance of state institutions with final and binding decisions, and the risk of shifting the Constitutional Court's position from a negative legislator to a positive legislator. This article recommends strengthening the ethical supervision mechanism of constitutional judges and structuring the limits of constitutional interpretation authority so that the role of the Constitutional Court remains proportionate in the Indonesian constitutional system.