Constitutional Court of Italy

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The Constitutional Court of Italy (Italian: Corte costituzionale della Repubblica Italiana) is a supreme court of Italy, the other being the Court of Cassation. Sometimes, the name Consulta is used as a metonym for it, because its sessions are held in Palazzo della Consulta in Rome.

According to Article 134^[1] of the Constitution, the Court shall pass judgement on

• controversies on the constitutional legitimacy of laws issued by the State and Regions, under the conditions established by the Constitutional Law, and when the Court declares a law unconstitutional, the law ceases to have effect the day after the publication of the ruling;

• conflicts arising from allocation of powers of the State and those powers allocated to State and Regions, and between Regions;

• charges brought against the President.

The Constitutional Court is composed of 15 judges for the term of service of nine years: 5 appointed by the President, 5 elected by the Parliament of Italy, and 5 elected by the ordinary and administrative supreme courts. Candidates need to be either lawyers with twenty years or more experience, full professors of law, or (former) judges of the Supreme Administrative, Civil and Criminal tribunals.^[2] The members then elect the President of the Court, since 12 November 2014 this has been Alessandro Criscuolo. The President is elected from among its members in a secret ballot, by an absolute majority (8 votes in the case of a full court). If no person gets that many votes, a runoff election between the two judges with the most votes occurs. One or two vice-presidents, appointed by the President of the Court, stand in for the president in the event of his absence for any reason. The constitutional court passes on the constitutionality of laws with no right of appeal.

The court is a post-World War II innovation. Since 12 October 2007, when reform of the Italian intelligence agencies approved in August 2007 came into force, the pretext of state secret cannot be used to deny access to documents by the Court.

Membership

As of February 2 2015, after the resignations of then President Elect Sergio Mattarella, thirteen of the fifteen positions are occupied, there are two vacancies.^[3] Membership is as follows:

See also

• List of Presidents of the Constitutional Court of Italy

References

1. ↑ "The Italian Constitution". The official website of the Presidency of the Italian Republic. 
2. ↑ Justin O. Frosini and Sara Pennicino (2 February 2007). "Report from Italy". thecourt.ca. Retrieved 29 January 2015. 
3. ↑ "The Constitutional Court: Composition of the Court". Constitutional Court of Italy. Retrieved 29 January 2015. 

External links

• Official website

Coordinates: 41°53′57″N 12°29′15″E / 41.8991°N 12.4875°E / 41.8991; 12.4875