Constitutional Court of Italy

Constitutional Court
Constitutional Court
Established	1948 (in the Constitution) ; 1955 (effective)
Jurisdiction	Italy
Location	Rome, Italy
Composition method	Elected/appointed in equal portions by Italian Parliament, President of the Italian Republic, and highest Italian courts
Authorised by	Constitution of Italy
Judge term length	9 years (not renewable)
Number of positions	15
Website	Official website
President of the Court
Currently	Augusto Barbera
Since	12 December 2023

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

History

The court is a post-World War II innovation, established by the republican Constitution of Italy in 1948, but it became operative only in 1955 after the enactment of the Constitutional Law n. 1 of 1953 and the Law n. 87 of 1953.^[1] It held its first hearing in 1956.

Powers

According to Article 134^[2] of the Italian Constitution, the Court shall pass judgement on:

controversies on the constitutional legitimacy of laws issued by the State and Regions 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.

Additionally, a handful of constitutional laws were promulgated to regulate the powers and functionality of the Court during the years. The most important being constitutional law n. 1/1953, which, among other things, extends the power of reviewing and approving referendum's requests to the Court. (Art. 2)

The Constitutional Court passes on the constitutionality of laws with no right of appeal, as the Court is the highest court in relation to constitutional matters in Italy.

Since 12 October 2007, when the 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.

Composition

The Constitutional Court is composed of 15 judges for the term of service of nine years: 5 appointed by the President of Italy, 5 elected by the Parliament of Italy^[3] and 5 elected by the ordinary and administrative supreme courts. Of those elected by the supreme courts, 3 are elected by the Supreme Court of Cassation of Italy (penal and civil justice), one is elected by the Court of Auditors of Italy, and one by the Council of State of Italy (supreme administrative court). Candidates need to be either lawyers with twenty years or more experience, full professors of law, or (even former) judges of the Supreme Administrative, Civil and Criminal tribunals.^[4] The members then elect the President of the Court. 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 a majority, a runoff election between the two judges with the most votes occurs. The President of the Court appoints one or more vice-presidents to stand in for him in the event of his absence for any reason.

Current membership

Appointed by

President of Italy Courts of Italy Parliament of Italy

Name	Profession	Appointed by	Appointed on	Date sworn in	End of term	Type of membership
Giovanni Amoroso (1949– )	Magistrate	Courts (Court of Cassation)	26 October 2017	13 November 2017	13 November 2026	Vice president (since 12 December 2023)
Francesco Viganò (1966– )	University professor, lawyer	President (Sergio Mattarella)	24 February 2018	8 March 2018	8 March 2027	Judge
Luca Antonini (1963– )	University professor, lawyer	Parliament (18th Legislature)	19 July 2018	26 July 2018	26 July 2027	Judge
Stefano Petitti (1953–)	Magistrate	Courts (Court of Cassation)	28 November 2019	10 December 2019	10 December 2028	Judge
Angelo Buscema (1952– )	Magistrate	Courts (Court of Audit)	12 July 2020	15 September 2020	15 September 2029	Judge
Emanuela Navarretta (1966– )	University professor	President (Sergio Mattarella)	9 September 2020	15 September 2020	15 September 2029	Judge
Maria Rosaria San Giorgio (1952– )	Magistrate	Courts (Court of Cassation)	16 December 2020	17 December 2020	17 December 2029	Judge
Filippo Patroni Griffi (1955– )	Magistrate	Courts (Council of State)	15 December 2021	29 January 2022	29 January 2031	Judge
Marco D'Alberti (1948– )	University professor	President (Sergio Mattarella)	15 September 2022	20 September 2022	20 September 2031	Judge
Giovanni Pitruzzella (1959– )	University professor, lawyer	President (Sergio Mattarella)	10 November 2023	14 November 2023	14 November 2032	Judge
Antonella Sciarrone Alibrandi (1965– )	University professor	President (Sergio Mattarella)	10 November 2023	14 November 2023	14 November 2032	Judge