AL-NASHIF v. BULGARIA JUDGMENT 15 3. The Constitutional Court's judgment of 23 February 2001 73. On 23 February 2001 the Constitutional Court delivered its judgment in a case brought by 55 members of Parliament who considered that Section 47 (1) of the Aliens Act should be repealed as being unconstitutional and in contravention of the Convention. 74. The Constitutional Court could not reach a majority, an equal number of judges having voted in favour of the application and against it. According to the Constitutional Court's practice, in such a situation the request for a legal provision to be struck down is considered as dismissed by default. 75. The judges who found that Section 47 (1) was not unconstitutional and did not contravene the Convention considered that the Constitution authorised Parliament to exclude the right to seek judicial review of certain categories of administrative decision provided that a constitutionally guaranteed legitimate aim overrode the interests of the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms. National security was such a legitimate aim. Its protection had priority over the protection of individual rights and freedoms. Section 47 (1) of the Aliens Act took account of the fact that confidential information was at stake in deportation decisions based on national security. The wishes of a foreigner who had imperilled the security or the interests of the Bulgarian State could not prevail over national security considerations. Furthermore, there existed a possibility of filing an administrative appeal to the Minister of the Interior or to the Council of Ministers, which was a sufficient remedy. As to the Convention, its provisions permitted restrictions on human rights on grounds of national security and did not enshrine a right to a judicial appeal against deportation decisions. 76. The judges who held that Section 47 (1) was unconstitutional considered that the principle of proportionality inherent in the Constitution required that limitations on constitutional rights could not go beyond what was strictly necessary for the achievement of the legitimate aim pursued and that regard should be had to the fundamental importance of the right to judicial remedies enshrined in Article 120 of the Constitution. Depriving aliens of any possibility of obtaining judicial review of a deportation decision was disproportionate. The interests of national security were sufficiently protected as the administration could order immediate execution of a deportation order notwithstanding a pending application for judicial review. Furthermore, it was not true that an administrative appeal was possible. 77. This second group of judges also considered that the impugned provision was incompatible with the Convention as interpreted in the caselaw of the European Court of Human Rights.