It is often stated that the Court of Justice is a highly significant actor and a single explanatory narrative accounts for its position. A more plausible explanation is that it has grown precisely because it is less significant than claimed, and, as with other forms of EU politics, there is not a single field of judicial politics but multiple, discrete ones. All are highly confined and almost all are neither politically nor legally salient. The sole exception is litigation which enables a counter-majoritarian politics to take hold in domestic arenas. If the lack of salience of the Court in other fields raises questions about its functionality, this counter-majoritarian field raises the question as to how integration process identifies the
legislative failure that justifies such intervention and sets its limits
