The topic of the article is the current crisis of the idea of the apolitical nature of jurisprudence and the relationship between this crisis and the phenomenon of populism. In the first part of the study, the author puts forward a thesis on the post-theological and liberal character of the idea, reconstructing its genealogy. The next part discusses the impact of first-wave populism (1930s and 1940s) on the status of the title idea, focusing primarily on authoritarian – Nazi and Stalinist – populisms. In the next part, the author diagnoses the causes of the current crisis of the title idea after the period of its demo-liberal reappointment.