... since 2010, the Spanish judicial body known as the Constitutional Tribunal has refuted many pieces of legislation approved by the Catalan Parliament. This stands in contrast to the U.S., where the Supreme Court deliberates on constitutional matters. In Spain, the Constitutional Tribunal has overturned political decisions made by the Catalan Parliament, such as the housing emergency and fuel poverty bills and a Catalan statute in 2006. This has strengthened Catalonia’s desire for true independence from Spain.

Often, the Constitutional Tribunal has also acted in accordance with the Spanish Executive Cabinet, leading many to question the separation of powers between the two. Ten members of the 12-person Constitutional Tribunal are political appointees. The other two are appointed by the General Council of Judicial Power – the body in charge of overseeing the judiciary in Spain. The council is also primarily appointed politically. Meanwhile, the Spanish Executive Cabinet has refused, since 2011, to negotiate with their Catalan counterparts on issues to do with more autonomy.

In fact, since 2011, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his government have ruled primarily by decrees, which do not require input from the legislative branch. For example, the first Rajoy government (2011–2015) approved 33.8 percent of its legislation by decrees. Compare this to a figure of 20 percent the previous time the same party was in power (2000-2004).

Further evidence of the authoritarian turn of the Spanish government is the approval of repressive laws such as one known popularly as the Gag Law (“Ley Mordaza” in Spanish) in 2015. The law criminalizes many forms of protest and imposes high fines. The government claimed it would protect public order. This law, and the use of excessive force by police in Spain, has been repeatedly denounced by international organizations such as Amnesty International.

http://theconversation.com/catalonias-referendum-unmasks-authoritarianism-in-spain-84901