Pembatasan SEMA pada Aspek Prosedural dalam Kerangka Konstitusionalisme Peradilan
Keywords:
Judicial Constitusionalism, Legal Formation, SEMA, Legal UniformityAbstract
The increasing use of Supreme Court Circular Letters (SEMA) containing substantive legal formulations raises constitutional concerns within the Indonesian judicial system, particularly regarding the limits of the Supreme Court’s authority under Articles 24 and 24A of the 1945 Constitution. The urgency of this study lies in the tendency of SEMA to function as a quasi-legislative instrument with external normative effects, despite its conceptual design as an internal administrative guideline. This research aims to examine whether substantive SEMA constitutes a form of rechtvorming that exceeds the Supreme Court’s administrative authority and to formulate an ideal normative framework to restrict SEMA to procedural aspects without undermining its role in maintaining legal uniformity. This study employs normative legal research with statutory, conceptual, and case approaches, utilizing primary and secondary legal materials analyzed through qualitative-prescriptive methods. The findings indicate that substantive provisions in SEMA potentially exceed constitutional attribution and blur the boundary between administrative and regulatory functions. Accordingly, normative limitations are proposed through clear parameters for identifying substantive norms, conversion of material content into Supreme Court Regulations (PERMA), strengthened review mechanisms, and reinforcement of jurisprudence to ensure legal uniformity. These findings contribute to the development of judicial constitutionalism and intra-judiciary checks and balances within a democratic rule of law framework.
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