Beyond EU Law Heroes Unleashing Strategic Litigation as a Form of Participation in the Union's Democratic Life

This article discusses the emerging strategic litigation practice in the European Union through the lens of participatory democracy. After situating such a practice within the specificities of the EU legal order, it explores whether and extent to which strategic litigationunderstood as an additional form of participation in the Union's democratic lifemay contribute to EU participatory democracy and under which conditions. It unveils that while strategic litigation carries the potential to enhance democratic participation in the EU, it also risksdue to limited judicial literacy and unequal access to justiceempowering those already powerful. For strategic litigation to unleash its democratic potential at scale, EU courts mustas required by the 'Provisions on Democratic Principles' of the Treaty of Lisbonensure a participatory enabling environment capable of pro-actively catalysing and facilitating the ability of ordinary citizensas well as diffuse, under-resourced and traditionally overlooked groupsto be better able to contribute to the Union's democratic life. Ultimately, no legal order worth of its name should rely on the heroism of its citizens and residents to keep its legal system in check.