Laws that abolish or derogate the rights and freedoms of man and citizen: Theoretical and practical problems of interpretation

Introduction. Among the constitutional foundations of the rule of law, a special place is occupied by the norms aimed at ensuring the unity and consistency of the Russian legal system. The fundamental norms of this nature include the provision of Part 1 of Article 15 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which stipulates that laws and other legal acts adopted in the Russian Federation must not contradict the Constitution of the Russian Federation. At the same time, the distortion of the legal nature of Russian statehood is, in a certain sense, prevented by the prohibition on issuing laws that abolish or derogate the rights and freedoms of man and citizen, established by Part 2 of Article 55 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Theoretical analysis. The article considers the issue of the methods of formally expressing a similar prohibition in the constitutions (charters) of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, and highlights the diversity of legal models of its legal and technical presentation. The positions of researchers regarding the terminology used in the Constitution of the Russian Federation have been presented: conclusions on the interpretation of the concepts of "law" and "normative legal act" have been provided. The article outlines the features of a normative legal act specified in three draft federal laws on the fundamentals of lawmaking and law enforcement in the Russian Federation. Empirical analysis. In order to identify the approach of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation to the problem under study, its decisions made both before and after the constitutional reform of 2020 were analyzed. Particular emphasis was placed on the normative design of its powers due to amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation in 2020. Results. The literal interpretation of the concept of "law" in the context of Part 2 of Article 55 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation (in the meaning of "federal law") excludes the possibility of talking about the abolition or derogation of rights and freedoms by other normative legal acts. However, the practice of the highest judicial body of constitutional review in the Russian Federation indicates the opposite: conclusions on the cancellation and (or) derogation of rights and freedoms are found in the decisions made following the consideration of cases on the verification of the constitutionality of provisions of the law of a subject of the Russian Federation, a decree of the Government of the Russian Federation, etc.