Razionalità scientifica e ragionevolezza giuridica a confronto in materia di trattamenti sanitari obbligatori

Scientific evidence plays a more significant role in constitutional law, by establishing a new kind of limit to legislative regulatory discretion and giving rise to a new standard used by the Italian Constitutional Court in judicial review over the reasonableness of limitations imposed upon fundamental rights. However, this notion of «scientific reasonableness», which has been employed in legislative evaluations reflecting latest experimental knowledge and most reliable empirical data, raises several problems. One point of criticism entails its debated nature, whether procedural or substantive. Is it only a criterion to assess means-ends relationship or does it influence also the core evaluations of public bodies related to the so-called proportionality test? In this perspective, the Article analyses the impact of scientific knowledge on the use of the balancing methodology by Constitutional courts, highlighting some issues explored in the most recent constitutional case-law on involuntary medical treatments