Chapter VI. Judiciary
Article 77
The ability to hear civil and criminal cases, to resolve them and to enforce judgements pertains exclusively to the courts established by the law. Neither the President of the Republic, the Ministers of the State, nor the Congress may, under any circumstances, exercise judicial functions, take over pending cases, revise the grounds for or the contents of their resolutions or revive closed cases. Any contravention of this norm is null, according to article 7 of this Constitution.
Having reclaimed their intervention in a legal form and in business within their competence, the courts may not excuse themselves from exercising their authority, not even due to a lack of law that resolves the dispute or issues submitted for their decision
In order to execute their resolutions and to enforce or to ensure the enforcement of the acts of instruction determined by the law, the ordinary and special courts of justice that form a part of the Judiciary may issue direct orders to the public force or exercise the conducive means of action that they arrange. The other courts will do so in the form indicated by the law.
The required authority must comply with the judicial mandate without further delay and may not qualify the grounds or opportunity, nor the justice or legality of the resolution the court attempts to execute.
Article 78
An organic constitutional law will determine the organization and attributes of the courts that are necessary for the swift and complete administration of justice in the entire territory of the republic. The same law will indicate the qualities that judges must possess as well as the number of years that persons nominated for positions on the courts must have worked as a lawyer. Additionally, an organic constitutional law will determine and regulate those functions outside the jurisdictions of the courts.
The organic constitutional law related to the organization and attributes of the courts may only be modified following a hearing in the Supreme Court according to the provisions of the respective organic constitutional law.
The Supreme Court must issue a pronouncement within a period of thirty days after the receipt of the official communication in which the pertinent opinion is requested.
However, if the President of the Republic has made a state of urgency present with regard to the matter under consideration, the President will communicate this to the court.
In said cases, the court must rule within the period implied by the respective urgency.
If the Supreme Court does not release an opinion within the specified periods, the procedure will be concluded.
The organic constitutional law related to the organization and attributes of the courts, as well as the procedural laws that regulate a system of prosecution, may set different dates for its entrance into force within the diverse regions of the national territory. Notwithstanding the prior, the timeline for the entrance into force of said laws throughout the country may not exceed four years.
Article 79
With regard to the nomination of judges, the law will adjust to the following general precepts.
The Supreme Court will be composed of twenty-one ministers.
The ministers and the judicial prosecutors of the Supreme Court will be nominated by the President of the Republic, selecting them from a list of five persons that, in all cases, will be proposed by the Supreme Court itself and with the agreement of the Senate. The Senate will adopt the respective agreements with a vote of two thirds of the members in office in a session especially convened for this purpose and following the agreement of the majority of the Senators within the Commission for the Constitution, Legislation, Justice and Regulation of the Corporation. If the Senate does not approve the proposition of the President of the Republic, the Supreme Court must complete the five-person list proposing a new nomination to substitute for the rejected nomination, repeating the procedure until a nomination is approved.
Five of the members of the Supreme Court must be lawyers external to the administration of justice, have at least fifteen years of certification, have served within the profession or a university and meet the other requirements indicated by the respective organic constitutional law.
When filling a position that corresponds to a member of the Judiciary, the Supreme Court will form the list of nominations exclusively with members of this court and the senior minister of the Court of Appeals that appears on the list of merit must occupy a place on the list of nominations. The other four positions will be filled according to the merits of the candidates. When seeking to fill a vacancy corresponding to lawyers external to the administration of justice, the list of nominations will be formulated exclusively with lawyers that meet the requirements indicated in the fourth clause.
The ministers and judicial prosecutors of the Courts of Appeals will be designated by the President of the Republic, from a list of candidates proposed by the Supreme Court.
The career judges will be designated by the President of the Republic, from a list of three candidates proposed by the Court of Appeals within the respective jurisdiction.
The senior career judge, in civil or criminal law, sitting on the court or the senior civil or criminal judge within the position immediately below the position being filled, who also is on the list and expresses interest in the role, will occupy a place on the corresponding three candidate list. The other two places will be filled with attention to the merits of the candidates.
The Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals will form lists of five or three candidates in a plenum especially convened for this purpose, in a single vote in which each member has a right to vote for three or two of the nominees, respectively. The nominees that obtain the five or the three first majorities will be elected, respectively. Ties will be resolved through a lottery.
However, in the case of nominations for ministers of substitute courts, the designation may be made by the Supreme Court and, in the case of the judges, by the respective Court of Appeals. These designations may not last longer than sixty days and may not be extended. In the case that the mentioned superior courts do not use this ability or in the case that the period of substitution has passed, vacancies will be filled in the ordinary form previously indicated.
Article 80
The judges are personally responsible for the crimes of bribery, failure to observe the substance of the laws that regulate procedure, denial and distorted administration of justice and, in general, of all prevarication that they enter into in the exercise of their duties.
With regard to the members of the Supreme Court, the law will determine the cases and the mode of enforcing this responsibility.
Article 81
The judges will remain in their positions during good behavior; however, inferior judges will occupy their respective judgeships for the time period indicated by the law.
Notwithstanding the prior, the judges will cease their functions upon reaching the age of 75; or due to resignation, supervening legal incapacity, or in the case a judge is removed due to a legal cause. The norm related to age will not govern with respect to the President of the Supreme Court, who will continue in his or her role until the end of his or her term.
In any case, upon a request of the President of the Republic, at the solicitation of an interested party, or ex officio, the Supreme Court may declare that the judges have not maintained good behavior and, after a report from the accused and from the respective Court of Appeals, if necessary, the Supreme Court may agree to their removal by the majority of its members. These agreements will be communicated to the President of the Republic for his or her compliance.
The Supreme Court, in a plenum especially convened for this purpose and by the absolute majority of its members in office, may authorize or order, rightly, the transfer of the judges and other functionaries and employees of the Judiciary to another role of equal stature.
Article 82
The magistrates of the superior courts of justice, the judicial prosecutors, and the career judges that form part of the Judiciary may not be apprehended without an order of the competent court, except in cases of flagrant crime or simple offense and only so as to put them immediately before the court that must consider the matter in accordance with the law.
Article 83
The Supreme Court has the directive, correctional, and economic supremacy over all courts within the nation. An organic constitutional law will regulate the form and exercise of these powers. The Constitutional Tribunal, the Tribunal Calificador de Elecciones, and the regional electoral tribunals are exempt from this norm.
The superior courts of justice, in the use of their disciplinary powers, may only invalidate jurisdictional resolutions in the cases and form established by the respective organic constitutional law.
